Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus UCF on January 31, 2026 , Win , 65, to, 52
Final
Women's Basketball
65
UCF
52
Iowa State University Athletics
Anderson Earns Cyclone Pride Award at Team Banquet
03.16.2008 | Women's Basketball
AMES, Iowa ? Junior Jocelyn Anderson was honored with the Cyclone Pride Award Sunday evening at the Iowa State women's basketball banquet at the Scheman Building on the ISU campus.
The Iowa State coaches and student-athletes celebrated a season to remember in their postseason banquet. ISU has put together a 20-12 record in a season that saw two starters sidelined by ACL injuries. However, the Cyclones refused to make excuses, instead rallying together and completing its ninth 20-win season in school history, and knocking off three teams ranked in the top 25.
The resilience and determination of the 2007-08 Cyclone team was at its best last week in the Big 12 Championship, as Iowa State made it to the semifinal game for the seventh time in 12 tries. ISU knocked off Colorado for the third time this season in the first round of the tournament, 76-50, behind seven three-pointers by Heather Ezell.
The Cyclones then turned around and defeated 15th-ranked and Big 12 regular-season champion Kansas State, 66-65, in an overtime thriller that will not soon be forgotten by Iowa State fans. ISU fell to Texas A&M, 65-53, in the semifinal round, but still displayed its never-quit attitude, consistently fighting its way back into the contest, before finally falling to the eventual Big 12 Champion Aggies.
“I kept telling them ?Tough times don't last, but tough people do,'” head coach Bill Fennelly told the crowd. “That's the way we approached it every single day. We changed our style. We changed our approach. We changed the way we practiced, but we did not change the core belief of what it means to be an Iowa State basketball player and to be and Iowa State basketball team. Now you look at a team that has won 20 games, and has played in the best league in the country. At the end of the day I think our players have a lot to be proud of, they did things the right way. I hope it is something they will always remember.”
Anderson was named the Cyclone Pride honoree by the coaching staff. The 6-4 junior college transfer epitomized the heart of this Iowa State team, being forced into a starting role when starting post players Toccara Ross and Nicky Wieben were forced to the bench after suffering season-ending injuries. The Gowrie, Iowa, native started the last 16 games of the season, and set an Iowa State single-season record for blocked shots with 69 rejections. Anderson averaged 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game after Wieben was lost in the Texas game and Anderson was forced into a full-time role, playing 33.6 minutes per contest.
“The Cyclone Pride Award is the only subjective award that we give,” Fennelly said. “We give it to someone who did it the way we think an Iowa State player ought to do it. I don't think that there is any question that Jocelyn was put in the worst situation of any player in the country because of what we asked her to do. She is the perfect person for the award.”
Anderson was also given the ISU Rebounding Award, while freshman Kelsey Bolte earned the ISU Free Throw Award. Anderson averaged 5.4 boards per game for the season, grabbing a total of 174 rebounds, including 58 off the offensive glass, this season. Bolte was honored with the Free Throw award after shooting 87.3 percent (48-55) from the charity stripe throughout the campaign.
Fennelly proved prophetic, remarking at the beginning of the season that if we were talking about the newcomers on this team at the end of the season, it would be a good year. No one could have guessed the way in which it would happen, but with Anderson and Bolte garnering every honor at the postseason banquet, we are certainly talking about the newcomers and it was definitely a successful season.
“There is nothing better than accomplishing something with a group of people that no one thought you could,” Fennelly remarked. “This was the epitome of a team and a group of people who understood what they had to do to be successful. This team did not win a Big 12 Championship. This team didn't do what some other teams did, but this team belongs in the same conversation as any of the great teams we have ever had here. Because to be a great team you have to do things in a great way all the time, even when it's not easy, and this team did that.”
The Cyclones will now wait to hear of their NCAA fate on Monday night, when the field of 64 teams is announced at 6 p.m. on ESPN's Selection Show.
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