Seniors Spark Cyclones to Win over NU

AMES, Iowa ? Seniors Lyndsey Medders and Megan Ronhovde paced the Iowa State women's basketball team to a 64-53 win over the 25^th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers Tuesday night in the seniors' final home contest at Hilton Coliseum.

Iowa State improved to 20-7 on the season, collecting its eighth 20-win season in school history and the seventh under head coach Bill Fennelly, and finishing the home slate with just one loss (15-1). The Cyclones also improved to 8-6 in the Big 12 and knocked off its third ranked team of the season at Hilton, moving to 3-3 against top-25 teams this season. Nebraska dropped its third straight and fell to 21-7 on the season and 9-5 in the league.

Medders had a phenomenal game on Senior Night with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Ronhovde had a special night as well with 14 points and eight boards. Fellow senior Abby Reinert earned the second start of her career and grabbed one rebound. Toccara Ross was close to her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and nine rebounds, while Nicky Wieben turned in nine points and 10 rebounds in another balanced performance by the Cyclones.

“Number one, it was so neat that our seniors could play that well,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “It's one thing to win the game, and it's another thing for Lyndsey and Megan to play great and for Abby to give us four really good minutes to start the game. The other thing is that I've been coaching a long time, and I've never had a team handle themselves better than over the last nine days.”

The Cyclones shot 37.5 percent from the field and went 9-of-21 from three-point range, including hitting seven in the second half. Iowa State outrebounded the Huskers, 46-40. Nebraska was led by Danielle Page and Kiera Hardy with 12 points each. The Huskers shot 33.8 percent from the field and 20.8 percent from beyond the arc.

The Cyclones held a 26-19 advantage after the first 20 minutes. Medders hit a three with just under a minute left and then knocked down a jumper at the buzzer to give Cyclones a spark heading into the locker room. Iowa State held Nebraska to a season-low 19 points at halftime, as the Huskers shot just 24.3 percent from the floor and were 1-for-14 from three-point range over the first period. Both teams struggled to score in the first half, going nearly four minutes from the 4:46 mark to the :54 mark without either team scoring.

ISU got out to a 6-2 lead as NU started 1-for-10 from the floor. But the Huskers came back to tie the game at six. ISU got out to its largest lead of the first half, 19-12, with seven minutes to go on a three by Ronhovde. The Cyclones shot just 35.7 percent and committed nine first-half turnovers.

After getting hot to close the first half, Medders opened the second half with a three-pointer. The Cyclones extended their lead to 11 points, 32-21, on a conventional three-point play by Wieben, before the Huskers went on a 9-0 run to close the gap back to two. ISU answered with an 8-0 spurt of its own, capped by back-to-back treys by Medders and Ronhovde to take a 40-30 lead.

Iowa State widened the gap to 19, 53-34, as the Cyclones warmed up from three-point range. The Huskers cut it to 12, 53-41, but Medders knocked down another trey to keep Nebraska at arms length. Nebraska made one final run, cutting the lead to 10 points, 58-48, with two and a half minutes to go, but Ross hit back-to-back field goals to seal the Cyclone win.

The Cyclones will finish out the regular season with a pair of road games, traveling to Kansas State on Saturday for their second meeting of the season with the Wildcats at 1 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum. Iowa State will close the regular season on Thursday, March 1, at Texas Tech.

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Team Stats

Megan Ronhovde

Lyndsey Medders

Toccara Ross

Nicky Wieben

Players Mentioned

Lyndsey Medders

Lyndsey Medders

Abby Reinert

Abby Reinert

Megan Ronhovde

Megan Ronhovde

Toccara Ross

Toccara Ross

Nicky Wieben

Nicky Wieben

Nicky Wieben

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Iowa State University Athletics