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 Makes Mark in Two Years
03.11.2009 | Women's Basketball
AMES, Iowa ? After Iowa State's win over Kansas Saturday night, the five Cyclone seniors stood in front of more than 12,000 fans and eloquently delivered speeches thanking their coaches, teammates and fans for helping them through their journeys at ISU. Jocelyn Anderson spoke for four minutes, and the running joke is that is the most she has talked in her two years as a Cyclone.
The Gowrie, Iowa native is quiet in nature, but her impact on the Iowa State women's basketball program speaks volumes. She spent two seasons playing for Steve Krafcisin at Des Moines Area Community College, before making the transition to Division I basketball at ISU. Bill Fennelly and his staff saw something special in Anderson, but even they couldn't have predicted the impact she would have for the Cyclones.
“We decided we had a need for some depth in the post, and we saw ?Joc' and we liked her energy level,” Fennelly said. “We saw someone we thought could help, but certainly not someone we thought was going to make a dramatic impact. She was someone who had a personal affinity for Iowa State. I thought it was a really good fit and it would allow her to come in and help us in a small way. It probably turned out a lot different than a lot of people anticipated after we signed her.”
In the first two months of her playing career for the Cyclones, Anderson came off the bench and averaged 18.4 minutes per game. She posted 5.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest. Things were going about how she expected. She had fit in with the team early and was making a contribution.
“It was really nerve wracking,” Anderson said. “I met the team and they were all really nice girls, but they were all really close to each other. I wasn't sure if they would accept me and take me in, but they did. They showed me around and made me feel like a junior instead of a freshman. I think it was even before preseason when we were scrimmaging up and down at State gym during the summer when I felt like I fit in. When you are there, it means you want to be there, because it's not mandatory stuff. And you know how dedicated the girls are. I wanted to impress them and make them feel like I was here for the right reasons and I was going to try my hardest.”
As the season progressed her teammates and coaches grew to appreciate her even more as she came to practice each day prepared and ready to work. But on Jan. 16, 2008, Anderson's world was turned upside down. Toccara Ross had already torn her ACL in a game on Dec. 21, and now another starting post player in Nicky Wieben was lost for the season due to an ACL tear. Fennelly's foresight to add Anderson for depth in the post was perhaps his greatest move of the season.
“I was really nervous at first,” Anderson said. “First, ?T' went down, and then when ?Wiebs' went down, I kind of freaked out a little bit. But coach Fennelly and all the girls made it an easy transition for me. They told me just to do my best and not to overdo it. I had never been much of an offensive player, so I had to contribute as much on defense as I could, and if I could throw in some offense, I knew that would help.”
Over the next several months her Cyclone legacy was cemented. Her production jumped as she averaged 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. She posted three double-doubles, willed Iowa State to the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship and helped the Cyclones earn an NCAA Championship berth very few thought was possible after Ross and Wieben were lost for the season.
“In all my years at Iowa State I don't think there has been a story that was so dramatic or someone who impacted our team in a way that no one expected like Jocelyn,” Fennelly said. “It really wasn't fair. You are talking about someone who was playing six, eight, 10 minutes a game, to being someone who had to start because there was no one else. She had to play. And to be thrust into that situation and not really be ready for it and handle it the way she did, I think is utterly amazing. I hope Joc, at some point, can sit back and smile about what she did last year, because when Toccara and Nicky got hurt we had a lot of season to go. There were a lot of people who wondered if we would win another game, let alone make the second round of the NCAA Tournament.”
Cyclone fans remember Alison Lacey's driving layup and free throw that secured Iowa State's Big 12 quarterfinal win over Kansas State to knock off the top-seeded Wildcats, but Anderson was the one who made all of that possible, by sending the game to overtime. Lacey missed a wide-open three-point look in the corner, but Anderson grabbed the rebound and got the putback with two seconds left in regulation to force the extra period.
“Certainly Joc's play in the Big 12 Tournament has made the list of all-time great plays at Iowa State,” Fennelly said. “I don't know if it is poetic justice that she did that to keep her forever in the highlight reel of plays in a year that she impacted our team.”
Because Anderson stepped up and contributed in a way no one expected, the Cyclones earned their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. Anderson contributed 12 points and six rebounds in the first round win over Georgia Tech, propelling Iowa State into the NCAA second round.
“She's a very mature kid and very much wants to be a good player and wants to help our team,” Fennelly said. “No way would we have been in the NCAA Tournament last season without her, and I don't think we would be there this year without her either.”
In her two seasons at Iowa State, Anderson has also made her mark on the Cyclone record book. She set the single-season blocked shots record last year with 75, and she has moved up to fifth place on the ISU career chart with 91 blocks. That's the one part of her game that gets her going and gets her excited, although she attributes it to luck not ability. While her two years in Ames have flown by, Anderson feels like she has been here for four seasons and will always be a Cyclone at heart.
“Someone asked me the other day if I wished I had two more years here, and I do, but it's funny because I feel like I've been here for four years,” Anderson said. “I know I haven't, but the time here blends together so well. I don't think I can explain how much I've loved playing here and how much I really appreciate the fans and them coming in and cheering for us during the game. I can't describe how much that helps us and how much energy that gives us.”
“She's a great person and someone we are very proud of,” Fennelly said. “She is someone who has every right to feel proud because she impacted our team as much as any of the other seniors, I honestly believe that. She's only been here two years, but her impact was pretty dramatic.”
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