Cyclones Knock Off Minnesota, 67-57

Saturday, December 9

Ames, Iowa

7:00 PM

Iowa State

7-1

Minnesota

8-3

Team	1	2	F
Minnesota	28	29	57
Iowa State	31	36	67

Cyclones Knock Off Minnesota, 67-57

12.09.2006 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa ? The Iowa State women's basketball team endured its most physical game of the season, but handled the pressure and knocked off the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 67-57, Saturday night at Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones used a team effort, as 10 different players scored and seven had four rebounds or better. Redshirt freshman Rachel Pierson led the Cyclones with 14 points, including 12 in the first half, and seven boards, while Lyndsey Medders had 11 points for ISU. Heather Ezell led the Cyclones on the glass with a career-high eight rebounds on the night.

“I was really proud of the effort of our team,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “Obviously when you look at the numbers, there probably wasn't one person that had a great individual game. This is one of those team efforts where the kids picked up for each other. We beat a good Minnesota team, and had a great crowd.”

With the win, ISU improved to 7-1 on the season and 4-0 at home. Minnesota fell to 8-3 on the year.

Iowa State outrebounded the Golden Gophers, 49-44, marking the sixth time this season the Cyclones have done so. However, it marked just the second time this season Minnesota has been outdone on the glass. The Cyclones shot just 35.5 percent from the field for the contest and 26.1 percent from three-point range, but held the Gophers to 34.3 percent from the floor and 10 percent from long range.

Iowa State got out to a 39-30 lead to begin the second half as seniors Megan Ronhovde and Medders drained back-to-back treys. Minnesota cut it back to five points, but the Cyclones again extended their lead to 13 points, 54-39, with eight minutes to go when freshman Alison Lacey knocked down a trey from the corner and Amanda Nisleit got a putback after grabbing the offensive board.

The Gophers got to within six, 59-53, after Minnesota's Kelly Roysland knocked down a pair of free throws with a minute and a half to play. Nicky Wieben got the board off a Medders miss and hit a pair from the charity strip to hold the Gophers at arms length , 61-53. Iowa State went 8-for-10 from the line with under a minute remaining.

After a tight first half, the Cyclones took a 31-28 lead into the locker room. Neither team led by more than six points in the opening 20 minutes. Pierson was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and had 12 points, while freshman Anna Florzak had a career-high six points in the opening stanza on a 2-for-4 effort from deep.

Iowa State took its largest lead of the first 20 minutes, 28-22, on a three by Florzak with two and a half minutes left. Minnesota held its final lead, 16-14, with 11 minutes to go, but Nisleit scored and Wieben earned a conventional three points to give ISU the lead for the rest of the contest.

The Cyclones will travel to Des Moines for the Mediacom Cyclone Capital Classic on Saturday, Dec. 16, in their only game outside of Hilton Coliseum in December. Iowa State will face Saint Louis at 11 a.m., which will be followed by the ISU men taking on Bradley at 2 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.