With an injury-shortened bench, Iowa
State had just nine players available
for its regular-season opener, but the Cyclones overcame a sluggish offensive
start to top IUPUI 70-55 in Hilton Coliseum Sunday.
“Considering the lack of depth
and that it was our first game, it was a good win for our kids,” ISU head coach
Bill Fennelly said. “The challenge for our team is that we have to learn to
practice at the pace of the game and I think this game will help them understand
that.”
The Cyclones (1-0) opened up the
scoring with two fast break layups, but an aggressive Jaguar full court press
forced three turnovers early. The first half featured four lead changes and four
ties. ISU was shooting nearly 70 percent until a six-minute scoring drought hit
with 10:46 left. Fortunately, IUPUI
(0-2) went scoreless for nearly as long, keeping the score in
Iowa
State’s favor at 21-19 for over five
minutes.
The Jaguars’ Brykeesha Tate hit a
halfcourt runner at the buzzer to cut
Iowa
State’s lead to 29-27 at the break.
The Cyclones closed out the half shooting 36.7 percent, while IUPUI knocked down
30.6 percent from the floor.
“That was a very solid team,”
Fennelly said. “IUPUI is very well coached. They had a good plan and they
changed defenses on us.”
The opening minutes of the second
half saw four more lead changes as the teams traded baskets. Cyclone junior
Megan Ronhovde sank her first 3-pointer of the game at 12:16, followed by another just 30 seconds later, to put
ISU up 42-32. IUPUI would never recover as the Cyclone offense opened up the
game.
“In the second half, we played
some solid defense and got some transition baskets,” Fennelly said. “For about
five minutes of the second half we played about as good as I could have hoped
for this time of year.”
Iowa
State hit 59.1 percent from the floor
in the second half and ended up with a 47-33 edge on the boards. Lyndsey Medders
led all scorers with 22 points, while Brittany Wilkins added 17 points. Ronhovde
turned in her fourth career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Nicky
Wieben closed out ISU’s double-digit scoring with 14 points.
“We did the things we had to do,”
Fennelly said. “It’s good to be 1-0. I’m very proud of them.”
IUPUI’s Brittany Mingo had 21
points, while Alicia Booyer added 11. The Jaguars shot 30.1 percent in the game
and forced 19 Cyclone turnovers. IUPUI made 1-of-3 charity shots and sent ISU to
the line 22 times.
Iowa
State travels to the
Bahamas to face
North Carolina
State in the first round of the
Junkanoo Jam Nov. 25.