Women's Basketball Season Review

04.09.2007 | Women's Basketball

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa- Iowa State went 26-9 on the season, finished tied for fourth place in the Big 12 standings and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in school history ... the Cyclones downed 11th-seed Washington, 79-60, in the NCAA first round, before falling to 14th-ranked Georgia, 76-56 ... ISU made it to the title game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship before falling, 67-60, to 11th-ranked Oklahoma ... the Cyclones won nine out of their final 11 contests of the season, including a stretch of eight straight ... Iowa State made its second NCAA appearance in the previous three years, and its eighth trip over the past 11 seasons, with all coming under the direction of head coach Bill Fennelly ... Iowa State earned votes in the Associated Press for the majority of the season, landing in the final poll of the season with a No. 24 ranking ... Iowa State went 4-4 on the season against ranked teams, and is now 40-105 all-time against top 25 squads and 34-46 under Fennelly ... ISU had winning streaks of 10 and eight games in 2006-07 ... the Cyclones have been invited to postseason play in 10 out of the last 11 seasons ... Fennelly earned his 250th victory at the helm of the Cyclone program with the win over Missouri on Feb. 4, and his 400th career win in the season opener vs. Cal State Fullerton ... the Cyclones claimed their eighth 20-win season in school history and the seventh under Fennelly ... Iowa State's 26-game win total is its third highest in school history behind a pair of 27-6 seasons in 2000 and 2001 ... ISU finished the home season with a 15-1 record at Hilton, while ISU was 5-6 in true road games ... the Cyclones wrapped up the non-conference slate at 12-1 overall ... 11 of ISU's 24 regular-season opponents earned postseason bids ... six were selected for the NCAA Tournament (Drake, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Baylor and Texas A&M) and five were chosen for the WNIT (Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Illinios State, Kansas State and Missouri) ... ISU was one of eight teams from the Big 12 competing in the postseason.

Inside the Numbers

Iowa State is four wins shy of the program's 500th victory (496-472) ... senior point guard Lyndsey Medders completely rewrote the Iowa State career assist record with 719, ranking fourth in Big 12 history ... she also rewrote the single-season ISU assist record for the second straight season, with 216 ... Medders finished her career tied for seventh on the ISU career scoring chart with 1,449 points ... fellow senior Megan Ronhovde became ISU's 18th player in school history to record 1,000 career points, finishing her career with 1,094 ... she also ranked seventh in school history with 710 career rebounds ... Medders and Ronhovde each rank on the ISU career three-point attempts and makes lists ... sophomore Nicky Wieben rewrote the ISU single-season blocks record for the second straight season with 62 and moved into second place on the ISU career chart with 121 ... Medders turned in three point-assist double-doubles as a senior and tallied 11 for her career ... Iowa State shot better than 50 percent as a team five times ... the Cyclones shot 42.1 percent from the floor for the season, 34.4 percent from beyond the arc and 74.4 percent from the charity stripe ... 10 different Cyclones hit a trey during the season ... Wieben led the Cyclones with 23 games in double figures ... Medders was in double digits in 22 games, including six with 20 points or more and Toccara Ross had 20 double-figure contests ... ISU went 20-2 when leading at halftime and 19-2 when outrebounding its opponent ... the Cyclones were 24-2 when scoring 60 points or better and 6-0 when hitting 11-plus three-pointers.

He's the Dean

With the announcement that Jody Conradt was stepping down as head coach at the University of Texas at the conclusion of the season, Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly became the new dean of Big 12 coaches ... Fennelly wrapped up his 12th season at Iowa State, followed closely by Deb Patterson (Kansas State) and Sherri Coale (Oklahoma) who each finished their 11th campaign at a Big 12 institution ... Fennelly has compiled a 259-119 record in his 12 seasons at Iowa State and is tied with Coale for the most Big 12 regular season wins by current league coaches with 110 ... Fennelly was given a contract extension to coach the remainder of his career at Iowa State after agreeing to a 12-year, $10.6 million deal ... Fennelly will receive $7 million in guaranteed compensation and is eligible to earn an additional $3.6 million in incentives over the life of the contract ... the contract expires in 2019 when Fennelly turns 62.

Iowa State Firsts

Iowa State's first-round NCAA tournament win over Washington was the first over the Huskies in three tries for the programs ... ISU's Big 12 Tournament win over Kansas State was ISU's first over the Wildcat in six tries at the Big 12 Tournament ... ISU's 72-68 win at Texas Tech was the first in school history for the Cyclones in Lubbock ... Iowa State swept both Kansas schools in the Big 12 (Kansas and Kansas State) regular season for the first time in Cyclone history.

The Next Level

Lyndsey Medders was taken by the Indiana Fever with the 22nd pick in the 2007 Women's National Basketball League Draft ... Medders is the highest Cyclone ever drafted at No. 22, topping Desir?e Francis' 29th pick in 2000 ... She was the eighth Cyclone in school history to be drafted into the WNBA, and only the third Cyclone to be taken in the second round or higher ... Medders is the first Iowa State player drafted since Anne O'Neil was taken in the third round by Sacramento in 2005 ... Medders was the third draftee in 2007 from the Big 12 Conference, behind Texas' Tiffany Jackson (5) and Baylor's Bernice Mosby (6), while five of the 39 players selected in the three rounds came from the Big 12.

Big 12 Postseason Honors

Senior Lyndsey Medders was named to the All-Big 12 First Team, while sophomore Nicky Wieben was an honorable-mention pick ... it marked the third straight year that at least two Cyclones have earned Big 12 postseason honors ... Medders earned her second consecutive All-Big 12 honor, while Wieben's award was the first of her career ... Medders was also named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team after she averaged 16 points per game and shot 52.2 percent from three-point range in the league meet ... she posted five assists, four rebounds and one steal per game through the four tournament contests ... Medders was also named a Big 12 First Team member by the Waco Tribune-Herald out of Waco, Texas.

Trey Bien

Iowa State has made at least one three-pointer in 369 consecutive games dating back to 1995 ... that streak now ranks second 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 and Stanford ended its streak at 403 on Feb. 22 ... Canisius College now unofficially holds the longest current streak at 390 consecutive games ... 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 passed out an assist in every game she played at Iowa State ... that is a span of 122 consecutive games through four years ... her single-game high was a school-record 16 assists vs. IPFW in 2005-06 ... she holds the single-season class records for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors ... she had 216 as a senior, dismantling Stacy Frese's senior mark of 165 ... she only had one game with fewer than three assists in 2006-07.

Medders an Academic All-District Pick

ISU senior Lyndsey Medders was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VII Second Team ... it is the second consecutive year that Medders has won the honor and the 16th academic district honor for a Cyclone in school history ... she posted a 3.44 cumulative grade-point average in sport management ... she did an internship with Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard.

Cyclones Earn Big 12 Academic Accolades

Four Cyclones were named to the 2007 Academic All-Big 12 Women's Basketball First Team ... all three ISU seniors earned the academic honor, including Lyndsey Medders, Megan Ronhovde and Abby Reinert, as well as sophomore Amanda Nisleit ... Medders held a 3.44 cumulative grade-point average in sports management, while Reinert held a 3.82 in accounting, Ronhovde boasted a 3.52 in marketing and management, and Nisleit earned a 3.77 in elementary education ... it's the third straight season that Medders and Ronhovde have been named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team ... players are not eligible as freshmen.

Big 12 Weekly Honors

Five different ISU players won weekly Big 12 honors in 2006-07 ... Nicky Wieben was the last Cyclone to win the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Player of the Week honor which was chosen by a media voting panel for games from Feb. 12-18 ... freshman Alison Lacey earned Big 12 weekly honors when she was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Rookie of the Week 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.

Easy Street

The Cyclones shot 74.4 percent from the charity stripe for the season, to rank second in the Big 12 and 36th in the nation ... head coach Bill Fennelly made it a goal for ISU to make more free throws than the opponents attempted, and the Cyclones were successful ... ISU hit 465 free throws, while opponents attempted just 445 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 on Feb. 14, ISU hit 21 free throws, while the Aggies attempted just six.

Fast Start

ISU's 13-1 start to the season was 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 UNI, 80-74, in overtime in Cedar Falls on Nov. 20 ... then knocked off Iowa 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 the final NCAA statistics, the Cyclones ranked highly in a number of categories ... the Cyclones' 7.5 three-pointers per game ranked 11th nationally, while their 15 assists per game ranked 57th ... ISU's personal fouls per game ranked 26th and their 74.4 free throw percentage ranked 36th ... committing just 15.2 turnovers per game, Iowa State ranked 39th ... the Cyclones' 37.4 field goal percentage defense was 44th ... their +7.2 scoring margin was 63rd ... individually, Lyndsey Medders ranked sixth with 6.5 assists per game, 62nd with a 35.6 three-point field goal accuracy and 93rd with two treys per game ... Nicky Wieben's 1.8 blocks per game ranked 58th.

Major Milestones

ISU head coach Bill Fennelly earned his 400th career victory with the Cyclones' season-opening win vs. Cal State Fullerton ... Fennelly is now 425-171 overall and 259-119 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 ... he 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.

Medders' Long List of Honors

Lyndsey Medders earned numerous accolades during the 2006-07 season, including being named an honorable mention Associated Press All-American ... she was named to the All-Big 12 preseason and regular-season teams and was a Big 12 All-Tournament selection ... she was named a finalist for the eighth annual Nancy Lieberman award for the nation's top point guard ... she was a top 30 finalist for the Senior CLASS Award and 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 and was 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.

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 10 postseason appearances in the last 11 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 eight 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 nearly triple the conference victories (115) 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 nine seasons ... Fennelly's leadership produced ISU's first-ever All-Americans in Stacy Frese (1999, 2000), Angie Welle (2000, 2001, 2002), Anne O'Neil (2005) and Lyndsey Medders (2007) ... Welle was voted to the Big 12 Conference 10th Anniversary Team, an elite group of five players ... his Cyclones have earned all-conference recognition 28 times and academic all-league honors 55 times ... eight of his players have been selected in the WNBA professional basketball draft ... 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.

Home Sweet Hilton Magic

The Cyclones have been phenomenal at home during head coach Bill Fennelly's tenure, compiling a 154-27 record (.850) in Hilton Coliseum, including a 69-3 mark against regular-season non-conference opponents ... Iowa State was a last-second shot away from going undefeated at home in 2006-07, finishing with a 15-1 record at Hilton ... ISU finished the 2006-07 season ranked seventh in attendance, marking the ninth consecutive season the Cyclones have ranked 11th or higher.