Iowa State University Athletics
Cyclones Tip Off Big 12 Season with KU
01.02.2007 | Women's Basketball
AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State women's basketball team will open Big 12 Conference play at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Kansas in front of a national television audience on CSTV ... the Cyclones wrapped up the non-conference slate at 12-1 overall, while Kansas comes into Ames with a 5-7 record ... ISU won three games in three days to win the American Family Insurance Cyclone Classic, closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule ... in the Cyclones' last win over Loyola Marymount, ISU senior All-America candidate Lyndsey Medders broke the Iowa State career assist record ... she leads the Cyclones with 13.3 points and 7.1 assists per game ... Toccara Ross leads the Cyclones on the glass with 6.7 rpg ... the KU game is the final of five straight at Hilton Coliseum for Iowa State, where the Cyclones are 8-0 on the season.
On the Tube
The Iowa State-Kansas game will be televised nationwide on CSTV, check your local listings ... Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (color) will be calling the action.
On the Air
The game will 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
All-America candidate Lyndsey Medders set the Iowa State career record for assists and moved into the ISU career scoring top 10, as she led Cyclones to a 71-55 win over Loyola Marymount in the final game of the American Family Insurance Cyclone Classic ... Medders tied and claimed the assist record on baskets by sophomore Nicky Wieben ... she rifled a long pass to a sprinting Wieben at the 16:25 mark of the second half resulting in a layup and a new school record ... she finished the night with nine assists, which puts the current record at 595, passing Lindsey Wilson's previous mark of 589 ... Medders also turned in 21 points, tying her for 10th place all-time in school history with Jolene Leseman at 1,201 points ... Medders headed the all-tournament team as the Most Valuable Player, along with teammates Wieben and Toccara Ross, who each finished the night with 16 points ... Wieben had six rebounds, while Ross had seven in the winning effort ... Iowa State took a 38-27 lead into the locker room at halftime, despite trailing the Lions for a stretch in the first period ... Loyola Marymount led 25-21, before the Cyclones ran off 17 unanswered points to take a 38-25 advantage ... LMU hit a trey to open the second half, but Medders answered with a long range shot of her own and a conventional three-point play to lead 44-30 ... after Wieben and Medders teamed up for the assist record and a 48-32 advantage, Loyola Marymount went on a 9-0 run to cut their deficit to seven points, 48-41, before ISU got its offense back on track ... Iowa State shot 47.5 percent from the field, while holding the Lions to 35.7 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent from beyond the arc ... the Cyclones outrebounded Loyola Marymount, 37-35, and ISU had just 12 turnovers to 19 assists in the contest.
About the Cyclones
Iowa State has won its last nine contests, including three straight wins last weekend to improve to 12-1 on the season ... ISU is 8-0 at Hilton Coliseum this year ... senior All-America candidate Lyndsey Medders leads the squad with 13.3 points and 7.1 assists per outing, and ranks in the top five nationally ... ISU is outscoring opponents by a margin of +16.0, and is averaging 74.5 ppg ... the Cyclones are shooting 45 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from three-point range ... ISU has outrebounded opponents with a +9.6 margin ... Iowa State is in its 34th season of women's basketball and holds a 482-464 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.
About the Jayhawks
Kansas holds a 5-7 non-conference record entering Big 12 play ... the Jayhawks have lost three straight and six out of their last seven, including falling to Xavier, 72-63, on New Year's Eve ... KU has been led this season by freshman guard Kelly Kohn with 10.7 points per game ... sophomore Marija Zinic is KU's second leading scorer with 8.8 ppg and leads the Jayhawks on the glass with 5.4 rpg ... the Jayhawks are young this season with seven freshmen and just two seniors, after losing their top three scorers from a season ago ... the Jayhawks started four freshmen in their last game vs. Xavier ... as a team, Kansas is averaging 60.9 points per game with a 39.4 field goal percentage ... KU was picked to finish 10th in the preseason Big 12 poll, the same place the Jayhawks finished last season with a 5-11 league record ... head coach Bonnie Henrickson is in her third season at KU, posting a 34-36 record at the helm of that program and a 192-98 career record over 10 seasons.
The Series
Kansas leads the all-time series with Iowa State, 40-20, including a pair of one-point victories last season ... before last season, the Cyclones had won eight of the previous nine meetings ... KU leads the series 15-12 in Ames ... KU won 14 straight from 1992 through Feb. 14, 1998.
Off to a Strong Start
ISU's 12-1 start is the best for the Cyclones since going 15-1
during the 2004-05 campaign ... Iowa State wrapped up its regular-season non-conference slate with one loss or less for the fifth time in school history, with all five coming under head coach Bill Fennelly, and have started 12-1 on the season for the sixth time in the last 12 seasons.
Record Setting
Lyndsey Medders broke the ISU career assist record against Loyola Marymount, passing Lindsey Wilson's previous record of 589 ... Medders currently has 595 dimes and ranks sixth all-time in Big 12 history ... Medders also ranks tied for 10th in school history with 1,201 points on the ISU career scoring chart ... she needs 83 points to move into ninth place ... Megan Ronhovde has made her way onto the ISU career rebounding charts, ranking eighth with 601, and is 23 shy of seventh place ... Nicky Wieben has 25 blocked shots this season and has 84 for her career, which is good for seventh place on the Iowa State career charts ... she moved ahead of Katie Robinette against Minnesota and is now one shy of sixth-place and two short of fifth place ... her 25 blocks on the season is the third best by a sophomore in school history.
Cyclones Making Way Through Schedule
Iowa State is 12-1 on the season, including a current nine-game winning streak ... ISU has faced five NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago and seven of the 13 teams on ISU's schedule to this point were in the postseason last year ... the Cyclones have gone 4-1 against 2006 NCAA Tourney teams, with their only loss coming at Pepperdine.
State Champs
Iowa State claimed the mythical state championship for the second consecutive season ... the Cyclones defeated Northern Iowa, 80-74, in overtime in Cedar Falls on Nov. 20 ... then knocked off the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series in Iowa City on Nov. 30, 80-74 ... and ISU defeated Drake, 70-62, at Hilton Coliseum on Dec. 5.
Leaders of the Pack
The Cyclones were ranked in the top 50 of most NCAA statistical categories (released last on Dec. 17, and will be released again on Jan. 2) ... the Cyclones' 8.1 three-pointers per game ranked eighth nationally ... their 76.7 free throw percentage ranked 18th, their +8.8 rebound margin is 20th and their 34.7 field goal percentage defense is 21st ... individually, Lyndsey Medders ranked fourth with 7.0 assists per game ... Nicky Wieben's 1.8 blocks per game ranked 64th and Toccara Ross' 56.6 shooting percentage ranked 33rd.
Big 12 Rankings
In games through Dec. 31, the Cyclones led the Big 12 in three-point field goals per game (8.2) and assists-to-turnover ratio ... ranked second in free throw percentage (.722) ... ranked third in assists (18.9) ... ISU was fourth in field-goal percentage defense and rebounding margin (+10.6) ... fifth in three-point field goal accuracy (.351) ... individually, Lyndsey Medders leads the league in assists (7.1) and is 13th in individual scoring, while Toccara Ross is 17th ... Nicky Wieben is fifth (1.9) in blocked shots ... Heather Ezell is second and Medders is fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio ... Medders is fifth and Ezell is sixth in three-point field goals made, respectively ... Ross and Rachel Pierson are eighth and 15th, respectively, in field goal percentage.
The Season of Giving
Iowa State has passed out 246 assists on 349 made field goals for the season, for 70.5 percent ... it is the best assist-to-field goal ratio in school history for a season and the best since the Cyclones posted 68 percent or better in back-to-back seasons in 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Major Milestone
ISU head coach Bill Fennelly earned his 400th career victory with the Cyclones' season-opening win vs. Cal State Fullerton ... Fennelly is now 411-164 overall and 245-111 in his 12 seasons with the Cyclones ... his 300th career win came against Baylor on March 7, 2001, in the Big 12 Tournament ... No. 200 also came in the Big 12 Tourney, defeating Texas A&M on March 4, 1997 ... notched his 100th career win while coaching at Toledo, turning back Providence, 74-64, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 18, 1992.
Early Season Honors
All-America candidate Lyndsey Medders has earned numerous preseason accolades, including being named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team ... most recently she was named a top 50 finalist for the Naismith Trophy presented by Cingular Wireless ... 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 received 22 votes this week in the AP Poll, good for 30th place, and received votes for the fist time this season in the Coaches' Poll last week ... ISU was 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 347 consecutive regular-season games dating back to 1995 ... that streak ranks second nationally behind Cleveland State ... the school record for three-pointers made in a game is 18 (vs. Missouri, Feb. 19, 2000), which ISU challenged in their game against Virginia Tech, hitting 14-of-27 on the contest.
Home Sweet Hilton Magic
The Cyclones have been phenomenal at home during head coach Bill Fennelly's tenure, compiling a 147-27 record (.845) in Hilton Coliseum, including a 68-3 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.
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 ... 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 ... ISU head coach Bill Fennelly finished the season one win shy of 400 career victories ... Nicky Wieben set the single-season blocked shots record (59) ... 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 ... 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) ... Iowa State made more free throws (383) than its opponents attempted (307).
