Iowa State University Athletics
Cyclones Open Road Stretch at UNI
11.18.2006 | Women's Basketball
Iowa State hits the road for the first in a stretch of four games Monday night when the Cyclones travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to face in-state rival Northern Iowa ... the game will be the first for UNI in the new McLeod Center ... ISU is coming off an 85-62 win over Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum ... the win marked career victory No. 400 for head coach Bill Fennelly ... UNI opened the season with a 75-63 loss at Minnesota and fell 69-58 at Weber State on Friday night ... the two teams will meet for the 35th time ... ISU holds a 26-8 advantage in the all-time series.
On the Air
Iowa State's game will be shown on Mediacom ... Rob Brooks will provide play-by-play, while Karen Schulte provides analysis ... the game will also be broadcast live on the Cyclone Radio Network (1430 AM in Ames) ... every game is broadcast live on the internet at Cyclones.com ... broadcasts will be streamed by Yahoo! Sports and will cost $4.95 per month, which will include broadcasts of football, men's basketball and the Coaches shows.
Last Time Out
Iowa State picked up an 85-62 win over Cal State Fullerton to open the season on Wednesday ... four players finished in double figures ... Head Coach Bill Fennelly earned his 400th career win ... Lyndsey Medders led all scorers with 24 points on the night, including going 8-of-14 from the field and 4-for-9 from beyond the arc, and turned in six assists ... Nicky Wieben finished with 20 points on the night, a new personal high ... she also had five blocked shots, giving her 64 for her career and moving her up to eighth place on the Iowa State career charts just one game into her second collegiate season ... Alison Lacey finished with 12 points and led the team on the boards with nine rebounds on the night, while Heather Ezell had 10 points and seven rebounds to round out the double-digit scorers for ISU.
About the Cyclones
ISU is 1-0 on the season for the 12th straight season during Bill Fennelly's tenure (6-0 home, 5-0 road, 2-0 neutral) and is 26-8 in season openers all-time (9-3 home) ... Iowa State is in its 34th season of women's basketball and holds a 471-463 overall record ... the 2006-07 Iowa State roster has 14 active players on it, the largest number on an ISU roster to start the season since 2001-02 when the Cyclones had 15 players ... the Cyclones are coming off an 18-13 season in which they made it to the second round of the WNIT for their ninth postseason appearance in the last 10 years ... sophomore Heather Ezell was in the starting lineup for both exhibition contests despite undergoing offseason knee surgery ... Ezell suffered a minor concussion during the Upper Iowa contest and did not start vs. Cal State Fullerton, but played 22 minutes ... Rachel Pierson saw her first regular-season action against CSF, her first in a year ... she was redshirted last season after undergoing back surgery.
About the Panthers
Northern Iowa has opened the season with two straight road contests, falling at Minnesota, 75-63, on Nov. 10, and losing 69-58 at Weber State on Nov. 17 ... senior Jessie Biggs leads the Panthers with 17.5 ppg and 8 rpg ... Tara King is not far behind with 16.5 ppg and 6 rpg ... the game against Iowa State will be the first in the new McCleod Center, a 7,018-seat arena ... the Panther previously played in the West Gym ... head coach Tony DiCecco is in his 12th season at UNI, as he and Bill Fennelly each began their tenures with UNI and ISU, respectively, in the 1995-96 season ... DiCecco is 166-150 in his collegiate head coaching career, spent entirely at UNI.
The Cyclone - Panther Series
Iowa State faces Northern Iowa for the 35th time on Monday ... the Cyclones hold a 26-8 advantage in the all-time series ... ISU had won the last three contests vs. the Panthers and have claimed eight out of the last nine against UNI ... last season Iowa State earned a 61-54 win over UNI at the Mediacom Cyclone Capital Classic in Des Moines ... in that game, Lyndsey Medders led ISU with 24 points and three players finished with double figure rebounds, including Megan Ronhovde (12), Brittany Wilkins (11) and Lisa Bildeaux (10) ... ISU shot 36.7 percent for the game, but was 6-of-13 from three-point range ... UNI was led by Sarah Larsen with 19 points and Cassie Hager with 12 boards.
Early Season Honors
All-America candidate Lyndsey Medders has earned numerous preseason accolades, including being named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team ... she was named to the Women's John R. Wooden Award Preseason All-America Team ... she was also named one of the nation's top five point guards by ESPN.com ... she earned preseason all-America recognition from SportsPageMagazine.com and Street & Smith's College Basketball Yearbook ... Medders led the Cyclones a year ago with 16.5 points per game, and led the nation in assists with a 7.7 pg average ... she was named to the All-Big 12 First Team last season, and earned third-team all-America honors from Women's Basketball News Service in 2005-06.
Head coach Bill Fennelly took over a program that had only five winning seasons in its first 22 years and has guided ISU to nine postseason appearances in the last 10 years ... he earned the 400th win of his career in the 2006-07 season opener against Cal State Fullerton ... he has led the Cyclones to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, including a 1999 Elite Eight berth and Sweet Sixteen games in 2000 and 2001 ... Fennelly's Cyclones captured the only league championships in program history, winning back-to-back Big 12 Conference Tournament championships in 2000 and 2001 and earning a share of the regular-season crown in 2000 ... Iowa State spent more than four years in The Associated Press national poll, including 34 weeks in the top 10 ... he has posted more than double the conference victories (105) in 11 seasons at ISU than all of the previous 15 seasons combined (43) ... his teams have drawn record-setting crowds, ranking among the top 11 schools nationally in attendance the last eight seasons ... Fennelly's leadership produced ISU's first-ever All-Americans in Stacy Frese (1999, 2000), Angie Welle (2000, 2001, 2002) and Anne O'Neil (2005) ... Welle was voted to the Big 12 Conference 10th Anniversary Team, an elite group of five players ... his Cyclones have earned all-conference recognition 26 times and academic all-league honors 51 times ... six of his players have been selected in the WNBA professional basketball draft over the last five years ... Fennelly, who guided Toledo to a 166-53 record and six postseason tournament berths in his seven years at UT, was inducted in the Toledo Varsity "T" Hall of Fame in 2003.
Where They Stack Up
Iowa State was picked fifth in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll ... the Cyclones found themselves receiving votes in the first Associated Press Poll ... ISU earned seven votes, which put them at No. 40 on the list ... the Cyclones were picked No. 23 in two preseason publications, including Street & Smith's College Basketball Yearbook and SportsPageMagazine.com.
Trey Bien
Iowa State has made at least one three-pointer in 336 consecutive regular-season games dating back to 1995 ... that streak ranks third nationally behind Cleveland State and Drake ... the school record for three-pointers made in a game is 18 (vs. Missouri, Feb. 19, 2000).
Home Sweet Hilton Magic
The Cyclones have been phenomenal at home during head coach Bill Fennelly's tenure, compiling a 140-27 record (.838) in Hilton Coliseum, including a 61-3 mark against regular-season nonconference opponents ... Iowa State finished 15-0 in Hilton Coliseum two years ago, the third Cyclone squad to go undefeated at home (all three have come under Fennelly) ... ISU finished the 2005-06 season ranked seventh in attendance, marking the eighth consecutive season the Cyclones have ranked 11th or higher.
A Life on the Road
The Cyclones begin a stretch of four straight road games, beginning with UNI ... ISU follows the trip to Cedar Falls with a trip to Malibu, Calif., where they will play two games in the Pepperdine Tournament ... ISU finishes up the road trip at Iowa on Nov. 30 ... that will mark the last time ISU hits the road until Jan. 6, when the Cyclones begin Big 12 road action at Missouri .. ISU is 8-7 in non-conference road games over the last five years and 24-32 overall in road contests during that span.
Record Setting
Lyndsey Medders finished with 24 points in the season opener against Cal State Fullerton ... she now has 1,052 career points, putting her 11 points shy of tying Vanessa Ward (1,063), who ranks 15th on ISU's career scoring chart ... Nicky Wieben had five blocked shots, giving her 64 and moving her up to eighth place on the Iowa State career charts just one game into her second collegiate season ... she moved ahead of Barb Gordon (1991-94) who had 61. She is now 10 shy of Katie Robinette's 74.
Lighting It Up
After going 8-for-32 from three-point range (.229) during two exhibition games, the Cyclones started the regular season on fire from beyond the arc, hitting 6-of-13 (46.7 percent) in the first half against Cal State Fullerton ... the Cyclones were 11-of-24 (.458) for the contest from downtown... ISU also shot 52.8 percent (28-53) for the game, compared to a 39 percent mark through the exhibition season.
Two For 2007-08
Iowa natives Kelsey Bolte (Ida Grove) and Jocelyn Anderson (Gowrie) made it official Nov. 7 when they signed National Letters of Intent to join the Iowa State women's basketball team for the 2007-08 season ... Bolte, a 6-1 senior guard at Battle Creek-Ida Grove, was the 2006 2A Iowa state Player of the Year, and earned a place on the 2006 Iowa state all-tournament team while leading the Falcons to a 27-2 overall record and a place in the state championship game ... Bolte averaged 22 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and five steals as a junior to earn her second straight all-State first team honors and IBCA all-region accolades ... Bolte also won the state AAU tournament while playing on the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association Iowa Select team last year ... Anderson will join the Cyclones after two seasons at Des Moines Area Community College, where she is a sophomore this season ... the 6-4 center was chosen as a junior college preseason first-team All-American before the 2006-07 season began ... Anderson averaged 15.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and 5.3 blocked shots per game and shot 58.7 percent from the field as a freshman at DMACC to earn first team all-region and second team NJCAA All-America honors ... she led the Bears to a 19-14 record a season ago and DMACC was ranked sixth in the 2006-07 preseason poll ... at Prairie Valley High School, Anderson earned first team, second team and honorable mention honors over three seasons in the Twin Lakes Conference.
Looking Back at 2005-06
Iowa State played two rounds of the 2006 Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), with both games going into overtime at Hilton Coliseum ... ISU topped UW-Green Bay 79-71 March 16 and fell to Marquette 69-63 March 20 ... it was Iowa State's ninth postseason appearance in the last 10 years ... this was the Cyclones' second appearance in the WNIT after advancing to the Final Four in 2004 ... Iowa State recorded its 15th winning season in school history, while head coach Bill Fennelly posted his 17th winning campaign in 18 years ... 13 of Iowa State's 22 opponents earned postseason bids ... Lyndsey Medders led the nation in assists per game with 7.7 ... Medders was named a third-team All-American by WBNS ... Brittany Wilkins averaged nearly a double-double (16.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg) before being picked up as a free agent by the WNBA Sacramento Monarchs, where she remained on the roster through the championship series.
2005-06 Season Milestones
Lyndsey Medders was the 17th player in ISU history to join the 1,000-point club ... she set the ISU single-season assists record, dishing 215 ... Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly finished the season one win shy of 400 career victories ... Nicky Wieben set the single-season blocked shots record (59) and already ranks ninth all-time at ISU ... Medders set seven of the top 15 single-game assist records and owns nine of the top 23 performances overall ... Heather Ezell tied for sixth on that single-game assist mark with 13 vs. Missouri ... junior Megan Ronhovde played every minute in ISU's two Big 12 Conference Championship games and logged seven complete games for the season ... Iowa State used a six-player rotation in four games and a seven-player roster in six contests ... 40.5 percent of ISU's shots were three-pointers ... Iowa State rallied back from a halftime deficit in five of its wins ... ISU lost just one game in which it scored at least 70 points (11-1) ... the Cyclones picked up their first win when scoring fewer than 60 points (1-6) in the regular-season finale victory over Colorado ... Iowa State made more free throws (383) than its opponents attempted (307).
