Cyclones Host Buffs Saturday

02.15.2007 | Women's Basketball

By: Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State women's basketball team faces Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday in the second game of its final three-game homestand at Hilton Coliseum ... the Cyclones are fresh off a 61-54 win over 13th-ranked Texas A&M on Wednesday ... the win was the second of the season for ISU over a top 25 team ... senior Megan Ronhovde became the 18th player in ISU history to record 1,000 career points, eclipsing the mark at Baylor ... ISU head coach Bill Fennelly earned his 250th victory at the helm of the Cyclone program with the win over Missouri on Feb. 4 ... the Cyclones are 18-7 on the season and 6-6 in the Big 12 ... ISU is 13-1 at Hilton this season and 3-6 in true road games ... the Cyclones wrapped up the non-conference slate at 12-1 overall ... Colorado won its first road game of the season, 60-58, at Kansas State on Wednesday night, making the Buffs 11-13 on the season and 5-7 in the league ... ISU senior All-American candidate Lyndsey Medders missed the games at Nebraska and Baylor and played limited minutes against Missouri due to a minor concussion ... in the Cyclones' win over Loyola Marymount, Medders broke the Iowa State career assist record and now has 651 ... with a 20-point, seven-rebound effort against the Aggies, Nicky Wieben became ISU's leading scorer with 12.4 points and 1.8 blocks per game ... Toccara Ross continues to lead the Cyclones on the glass with 7.7 rpg, after posting her fourth double-double (12 points, 13 rebounds) against A&M.

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.

World Wide

The Colorado game will not be televised, but will be shown live via a webcast on Cyclones.com for fans everywhere to enjoy ... the video feed will be streamed using the new videoboard technology recently installed in Hilton Coliseum ... fans who cannot make it to the game will be able to see exactly what is being shown on the Hilton videoboard during the game, live from their computer ... this exclusive premium content comes to fans with a subscription to the Clone Zone.

Last Time Out

Iowa State knocked off the 13th-ranked and Big 12-leading Texas A&M Aggies, 61-54, Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum ... Nicky Wieben had 20 points and seven rebounds and Toccara Ross chipped in a double-double with 12 points and 13 boards to lead the Cyclones in the win ... the win was Iowa State's second of the season over a top 25 team and the Cyclones' first victory over a team in the top 15 since defeating No. 13 Texas, 73-69, on Feb .5, 2005 ... ISU improved to 18-7 on the season and evened its Big 12 mark at 6-6 to move into a tie with Texas Tech for fifth place ... the game was tight over the first 32 minutes of the contest with13 ties and neither team taking more than a five-point advantage ... but with 7:52 remaining in the contest, Wieben put back a shot after getting the offensive rebound from her initial miss and sparked a 14-1 run that gave the Cyclones their largest lead of the night at 60-47 ... Texas A&M made a charge at the end, capped by a three-pointer with 49 seconds remaining to cut the lead to seven, but the Aggies missed back-to-back three-point attempts to seal the game for the Cyclones ... after holding a slim lead a majority of the first half, the Cyclones were tied at halftime, 28-28, for the first time all season ... Megan Ronhovde scored ISU's first five points of the game to give Iowa State a 5-3 lead ... the Cyclones' largest lead of the half was five points on three occasions ... Heather Ezell dropped in a layup with 12:43 to go in the half to lead 15-10, and the score was tied six times the rest of the period ... Texas A&M earned a brief lead, 25-23, before Amanda Nisleit drained a three-point attempt to regain the ISU advantage ... Takia Starks had 16 of Texas A&M's 28 first-half points, knocking down four of her six field goals from beyond the arc ... the Aggies held a 20-15 margin on the glass in the first half, but had eight turnovers to match the Cyclones ... Ezell also finished in double digits for the Cyclones with 10 points, including going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe ... for the game, Iowa State was 21-of-27 from the line, while not allowing the Aggies many chances at free throws, holding them to a 2-of-6 performance from the stripe ... Starks finished with 23 points for Texas A&M and Danielle Gant had 13 points ... Iowa State shot 43.2 percent from the field for the contest, including a 9-of-18 effort over the final 20 minutes ... the Aggies shot 37.1 percent for the game and were 6-of-21 from long range ... Texas A&M won the rebounding edge, 35-31, giving ISU its first win of the season when being outrebounded.

About the Cyclones

Iowa State has used five different starting lineups this season ... ISU is 18-7 on the year and 6-6 in the Big 12 ... ISU is 13-1 at Hilton Coliseum this year ... ISU is outscoring opponents by a margin of +8.1, and is averaging 68.4 ppg ... the Cyclones are shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 33.1 percent from three-point range ... ISU has outrebounded opponents with a +4.7 margin ... Iowa State is in its 34th season of women's basketball and holds a 488-470 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 Buffaloes

Colorado has been inconsistent this season with an 11-13 overall record, but the Buffs are in the thick of the Big 12 race with a 5-7 league mark, which is good for a three-way tie for seventh-place ... CU picked up its first road win of the season Wednesday night at Kansas State, 60-58 ... junior Jackie McFarland ranks ninth in rebounding and 36th in scoring in the nation ... McFarland is averaging a double-double with 18.1 points and 11 boards per contest ... she has posted double figures in all but one contest this season ... senior Jasmina Ilic is CU's second-leading scorer with 13 ppg ... in the first meeting with Iowa State, Colorado was 10-of-16 from three-point range in the first half, racing out to a 48-24 halftime lead ... the Buffs went on to earn an 81-67 victory, snapping a five-game ISU winning streak over CU ... after the win over Iowa State, CU went on a five-game losing skid, before picking up home wins over Kansas State and Texas Tech ... Colorado is averaging 64.5 points per contest and is allowing 66.5 ppg by its opponents ... the Buffs are shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from long range ... Colorado is averaging 20.8 turnovers and has a slight +1.8 rebounding margin over its opponents.

The Series

Colorado owns a 36-21 advantage in the series with Iowa State ... the Buffs' 81-67 win over ISU on Jan. 3, snapped a five-game winning streak by the Cyclones ... CU owns an 18-7 edge in games played in Ames ... the last time Colorado won in Ames was Jan. 25, 2004.

Academic All-District

ISU senior Lyndsey Medders was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 7 Second Team ... it is the second consecutive year that Medders has won the honor ... she has posted a 3.44 cumulative grade-point average in sport management ... she is currently involved in an internship with Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard.

Trey Bien

Iowa State has made at least one three-pointer in 359 consecutive regular-season games dating back to 1995 ... that streak now ranks third in the nation, as Cleveland State failed to hit a long-range try in their game on Feb. 3, ending its streak at an NCAA record 408 consecutive games ... Stanford holds the longest current streak at 401 and Canisius College has 385 ... the ISU 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.

Streaking

Lyndsey Medders has passed out an assist in every game she has played at Iowa State ... that is a span of 112 consecutive games through four years ... her single game high was a school-record 16 assists vs. IPFW last season ... she ranks in the top five in the single-season class records for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors ... her 148 assists this season rank second on the senior list ... she has only had one game with fewer than three assists this season.

Block Party

Sophomore Nicky Wieben has posted 43 blocked shots on the season and 103 for her career, ranking her second all-time in ISU history ... she needs 52 to tie for first place ... this season Wieben has had three games with five blocks and five games with three or more.

Record Setting

Lyndsey Medders broke the ISU career assist record against Loyola Marymount, passing Lindsey Wilson's previous record of 589 ... Medders currently has 651 dimes and is fourth all-time in Big 12 history ... Medders also ranks ninth in school history with 1,308 points on the ISU career scoring chart ... she needs 49 points to move into eighth place ... Megan Ronhovde is the 18th player in ISU history to join the 1,000-point club, as she now has 1,012 career points ... she has made her way onto the ISU career rebounding charts, ranking seventh with 648, and ranks third in three-point field goal makes with 221 ... Nicky Wieben has 44 blocked shots this season and has 103 for her career, which is good for second place on the Iowa State career charts ... her 42 blocks on the season is an ISU sophomore record.

Big 12 Honors

Freshman Alison Lacey was the most recent Cyclone to earn Big 12 weekly honors when she was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's basketball Rookie of the Week by a media voting panel for games Jan. 22-28 ... Toccara Ross was named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week, while senior Lyndsey Medders was named Big 12 Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 15-21 ... ISU freshman, Rachel Pierson, also won the Big 12's Rookie of the Week honor for the week of Dec. 3-10.

Against the Top 25

ISU's 67-56 win over No. 22 Texas was the Cyclones' first win over a ranked team since a 73-69 win over No. 13 Texas on Feb. 5, 2005 ... with the 61-54 win over No. 13 Texas A&M, Iowa State is now 2-3 on the season against ranked team, 38-104 all-time and 32-45 against ranked teams under Bill Fennelly ... Iowa State has faced five team ranked in the top 25 this season, including Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Baylor and Texas A&M.

Easy Street

The Cyclones have shot 73.6 percent from the charity stripe this season, to rank second in the Big 12 ... head coach Bill Fennelly has made it a goal for ISU to make more free throws than the opponents attempt, and so far the Cyclones have been successful ... ISU has hit 345 free throws, while opponents have attempted just 283 on the season ... against Kansas on Jan. 3, Iowa State hit 33, while the Jayhawks attempted just five on the night ... and against Texas A&M ISU hit 21 free throws, while the Aggies attempted just six.

Cyclones Making Way Through Schedule

Iowa State is 18-7 on the season, including a 10-game winning streak earlier in the season ... ISU has faced nine NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago and 15 of the 23 teams on ISU's schedule to this point were in the postseason last year ... the Cyclones have gone 7-4 against 2006 NCAA Tourney teams.

Fast Start

ISU's 13-1 start to the season 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 started 13-1 on the season for the fifth time in the last 12 seasons.

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

In NCAA statistics released for games through Feb. 11, the Cyclones rank highly in a number of categories ... the Cyclones' 7.3 three-pointers per game ranked 12th nationally, while their 15.6 assists per game rank 46th ... ISU's personal fouls per game rank 19th ... the Cyclones' 37.2 field goal percentage defense is 43rd and their +5.1 rebound margin is 40th ... their +8.1 scoring margin is also 60th ... individually, Lyndsey Medders ranks eighth with 6.4 assists per game ... Nicky Wieben's 1.8 blocks per game ranks 62nd.

Big 12 Rankings

In games through Feb. 14, the Cyclones lead the Big 12 in three-point field goals per game (7.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio ... they rank second in free throw percentage (.736) and third in assists (15.4) ... ISU is fourth in field-goal percentage defense (.372) and rebounding margin (+5.1), and sixth in three-point field goal accuracy (.331) ... individually, Lyndsey Medders leads the league in assists (6.4) and is 16th in individual scoring with 12.2 ppg ... Nicky Wieben is fourth (1.8) in blocked shots and 15th in scoring (12.4) ... Medders is second in assist-to-turnover ratio ... Medders is fifth and Heather Ezell is ninth in three-point field goals made ... Wieben is sixth and Toccara Ross is eighth in free throw percentage ... Ross is eighth in rebounding (7.7).

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 417-170 overall and 251-117 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 as a top 30 finalist for the Senior CLASS Award ... she is a top 50 finalist for the Naismith Trophy presented by Cingular Wireless ... was named to the Women's John R. Wooden Award Preseason All-America Team ... was also named one of the nation's top five point guards by ESPN.com ... 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

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 (110) in 12 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 ... ISU dropped out of the Associated Press poll and the Coaches' poll this week, failing to receive a vote in either one ... ISU was picked No. 23 in two preseason publications, including Street & Smith's College Basketball Yearbook and SportsPageMagazine.com.

Home Sweet Hilton Magic

The Cyclones have been phenomenal at home during head coach Bill Fennelly's tenure, compiling a 152-27 record (.849) in Hilton Coliseum, including a 69-3 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).