Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus UCF on January 31, 2026 , Win , 65, to, 52
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Iowa State University Athletics
No. 16 Cyclones to Face Lehigh in NCAA First Round
03.21.2010 | Women's Basketball
AMES, Iowa - The 16th-ranked Iowa State women's basketball team will take on Patriot League champion Lehigh in the NCAA First Round at 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones earned a No. 4 seed, while the Mountain Hawks enter as the 13th seed in the Dayton Regional. Virginia and Green Bay will face off in the first game at Hilton at 6:21 p.m. The winners of the two contests will play at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum.
What: No. 16/16 Iowa State (23-7; 11-5 Big 12) vs. Lehigh (29-3; 13-1 Patriot)
When: Sunday, March 21, 2010 • 8:30 p.m.
Where: Ames, Iowa • Hilton Coliseum (13,409)
Radio: Cyclone Radio Network/Learfield; Talent: Rich Fellingham (pxp); Molly Parrott (color)
TV: ESPN2/ESPN360.com; Talent: Bob Picozzi (pxp); Jimmy Dykes (color)
Live Stats: NCAASports.com
Cyclone Notebook
• Iowa State holds a 23-7 overall record and an 11-5 mark in the Big 12, which was good for a second-place finish, ISU's best finish since winning the Big 12 title during the 1999-2000 season. Iowa State's 23 regular-season wins tied the school record set twice before in the 1997-98 season and the 2009-09 campaign. Iowa State also posted its fourth consecutive season with 20+ wins and its 11th overall.
• ISU senior Alison Lacey has garnered a number of honors and awards this season. Most recently she was named to the WBCA All-Region 5 Team, which now puts her in contention for the All-America squad. She is a finalist for the Lieberman Award for the nation's top point guard. She was named a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team pick by the league coaches and has earned All-Big 12 First Team accolades given by the Dallas Morning News and the Waco Tribune-Herald.
• ISU has continued its success in the Big 12 Conference. Including this season's second-place finish, the Cyclones have finished in the top four of the league's final standings in four of the last six campaigns. Iowa State is tied for the second best conference record in Big 12 history (139-85) with Texas Tech.
• Iowa State is in its 37th season of women's basketball and its 15th season under head coach Bill Fennelly. Iowa State is 567-501 in school history.
• Iowa State had another outstanding season inside Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones went 16-1 at home and their only home loss came at the hands of undefeated Nebraska on Jan. 9.
• ISU won three games this season against teams ranked in the Top 25. The Cyclones' wins came at then-No. 20 Texas in overtime (73-71), and at home against then-No. 11 Oklahoma (63-56) and then-No. 11 Baylor (69-45). Only two of Iowa State's seven losses this season have come against teams not ranked in the Top 25 and both of those were on the road.
• The 2008-09 season was one of the best in school history for the Cyclones. They tied the school record with 27 wins and advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time. The finished third in the Big 12 standings with an 11-5 league record.
• Head coach Bill Fennelly is 330-148 in his 15th season with the Cyclones. He is 496-201 in his head coaching career, which began at Toledo in 1988.
A Closer Look At Lehigh
• Lehigh comes to Ames riding a 16-game winning streak and fresh off a Patriot League Championship. The Mountain Hawks are 29-3 overall and went 13-1 during the Patriot League regular season to tie American for the conference crown. Lehigh won the Patriot League Tournament with a 73-57 victory over regular-season co-champion American.
• Lehigh is making its third NCAA Championship appearance and has won back-to-back Patriot League crowns. Its 29 wins this season are school and conference records. The Mountain Hawks have received votes in the Coaches' Poll in each of the last five weeks.
• Three Lehigh players have posted double-figure scoring. The Mountain Hawks are led by junior Erica Prosser with 13.9 points per game. Sophomore Emily Gratch is posting 12.2 ppg and senior Alex Ross has averaged 11 points a contest. Senior Tricia Smith has led Lehigh on the boards with 6.2 rebounds a game.
• As a team, Lehigh is averaging 65.8 points per contest, while holding opponents to 54.5 ppg, which ranks 14th in NCAA Division I. The Mountain Hawks are shooting 41.3 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from beyond the arc. They are averaging 5.8 treys per contest. Lehigh's defense, however, has held opponents to 36.5 percent shooting from the field, which ranks 41st nationally, and 28 percent from long range.
• Emily Gratch ranks 19th in the nation with a 54.5 percent shooting average. Alex Ross is Lehigh's top three-point shooter, hitting 76 treys at a 31.5 percent clip. Erica Prosser ranks 36th nationally with 2.7 steals per contest, while the Mountain Hawks average 9.5 thefts per game as a team.
• Head coach Sue Troyan is in her 15th season at Lehigh. She holds a career record of 236-202. She was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year last season.
Series Information
Iowa State will meet Lehigh for the first time in women's basketball. The Cyclones are 4-1 all-time against teams currently in the Patriot League. ISU is 2-0 against Colgate and 1-1 against Holy Cross. Iowa State also knocked off Lafayette, 67-25, on Jan. 3, at Hilton Coliseum. Lehigh will be the Cyclones' first Patriot League opponent in their NCAA Championship history.
ISU NCAA Championship Nuggets
• Iowa State is making its 11th NCAA Championship appearance, with all 11 berths coming in the last 14 seasons under head coach Bill Fennelly. The Cyclones are 14-10 in NCAA Championship games. ISU has made four trips to the Sweet 16 and two trips to the Elite Eight in school history.
• The Cyclones are 8-2 in NCAA Championship games played at Hilton Coliseum.
• Iowa State is one of just 20 teams to make the NCAA Championship field in each of the last four seasons. The Cyclones also made six straight NCAA tournament appearances from 1997 to 2002.
• ISU went to three consecutive NCAA Regional Semifinals in 1999, 2000 and 2001. The Cyclones went back to the Sweet 16 in 2009 for the first time since the 2001 season.
• The Cyclones hit 16 three-pointers in their 2009 NCAA first-round win over Eastern Tennessee State. That mark tied the NCAA Championship single-game record. South Dakota State also tied that mark on the same night, making it a three-way tie for the top spot. Iowa State hit 15 three-pointers against St. Francis in 2000, giving the Cyclones two of the top four single-game marks in NCAA Championship history.
• ISU has been a four-seed or higher seven times in the NCAA Championship. The Cyclones also earned a No. 4 seed last season, which was its highest seeding since earning a the third seed in 2002.
• Iowa State played eight teams in the NCAA field of 64 during the regular season. The Cyclones faced six teams that are seeded sixth or higher during the 2009-10 slate. ISU went 5-5 against teams in this season's NCAA field.
• The Cyclones are making their fourth consecutive NCAA appearance, and have been to the second round in each of the last three seasons. Last season, Iowa State matched its best NCAA run in school history when the Cyclones made it to the Elite Eight before falling to Stanford.
• Nine teams from the Big 12 have earned a spot in postseason play, with seven making the NCAA field. The Big 12's seven NCAA Championship teams are all seeded No. 6 or higher for the second straight year. The conference has six teams seeded No. 4 or better, twice as many as any other league.
Last Time Out
• Iowa State dropped a 62-59 decision to 20th-ranked Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals last Friday. It was ISU's third straight game without starting point guard Alison Lacey.
• Three Cyclones finished in double figures for Iowa State. Anna Prins led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Kelsey Bolte chipped in 12 points and Whitney Williams added 11 points and four assists.
• The loss marked the first time in four seasons the Cyclones did not advance to the Big 12 Championship semifinals.
• Iowa State shot just 33.3 percent from the field, and went 8-for-30 from beyond the arc. The Cyclones put up a solid 17-for-20 effort from the charity stripe.
• Iowa State lost the battle of the boards, 40-38, for just the fifth time this season.
• The Cowgirls shot 35.3 percent from the field, but senior Andrea Riley scored 43 points on 44 field goal attempts. The rest of the team scored just 19 points and took just 24 shot attempts.
Notable Senior Class
Five Cyclones make up the ISU senior class, including: Alison Lacey, Denae Stuckey, Genesis Lightbourne, Shellie Mosman and Anna Florzak. The 2009-10 ISU senior class will be one of only four classes in school history to go to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments. These seniors rank as the third winningest class in school history by victories (97) and the fourth winningest by percentage (.719). They made the Big 12 Championship semifinals and at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the first three seasons of their career. They have made one Big 12 Championship title game (in 2007) and one NCAA Elite Eight berth (in 2009).
All-Big 12 Honors
• Four Iowa State players earned All-Big 12 Conference accolades, led by Alison Lacey's unanimous pick to the First Team. Junior Kelsey Bolte was named an honorable-mention selection, while Denae Stuckey was selected to the All-Defensive Team and Anna Prins earned All-Freshman Team honors.
• Lacey earned All-Big 12 honors for the third consecutive season, but was named to the First Team for the first time in her career. She is the first Cyclone to win All-Big 12 First Team honors since Lyndsey Medders did it in 2007. She is the seventh Cyclone to make a top All-Big 12 squad. Lacey was also named to the All-Big 12 First Team by the Dallas Morning News and the Waco Tribune-Herald.
• Bolte was named an All-Big 12 honorable-mention pick for the second consecutive season. She has averaged 12.6 points per game and has been in double figures 18 times this campaign.
• Stuckey earned the first conference honors of her career, earning a place on the Big 12 All-Defensive Team. She has posted 37 steals and been a constant pest to opponents this season. The Kansas City, Kan., native has also been one of ISU's top rebounders, snagging 6.2 boards per contest.
• Prins is the first Cyclone to win Big 12 All-Freshman Team accolades since Bolte did it in 2008. The Broomfield, Colo., native ranks second among Big 12 freshmen in scoring with 9.3 points per game. She has been in double figures 13 times this season.
The Votes Are In
Iowa State ranks 16th in this week's Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Polls. ISU has twice ranked as high as 13th in the AP poll this season, its highest ranking since coming in 10th in the final poll of the 2001-02 campaign. Seven Big 12 squads are ranked in the AP Top 20, led by Nebraska's No. 3 ranking. ISU ranked No. 12 in the Coaches' Poll four weeks ago, its highest mark in the regular-season poll since ranking 10th in the final week of the 2001-02 season.
Welcome Back
Iowa State is playing host to NCAA women's basketball first- and second-round games for the seventh time since 1998, in addition to serving as host to the 2002 Midwest Regional. In 2008, the Cyclones played host to NCAA first- and second-round games in Des Moines at Wells Fargo Arena.
Take Me to Your Leader
Senior point guard Alison Lacey is expected to make her return to the court in the NCAA First Round. She has missed four games this season, including the last three with pneumonia. Lacey missed the game at Nebraska due to a concussion. She did not make the trip to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State due to illness. She dressed for the Senior Day game against Colorado and made the start, but was quickly subbed for and did not play more than a couple of seconds.
1,500-500-500 Club
In the win over Missouri, senior Alison Lacey became the only player in Iowa State history and only the seventh player in the history of the Big 12 Conference schools to reach 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in her career. Lacey currently holds 1,592 points, 568 rebounds and 511 assists. She ranks sixth in ISU career scoring, third in career assists, and is 20 boards shy of ranking in ISU's top 10 for career rebounding.
Youth Movement
While the bulk of the attention is on ISU senior Alison Lacey, and rightfully so, the Cyclone underclassmen have also played a large role in Iowa State's success this season. ISU's four freshmen and two sophomores are responsible for 49.9 percent of ISU's scoring and 48.3 percent of its rebounding this season. The underclassmen have also made 44 percent of ISU's starts this season (66).
Impact on Winning
ISU head coach Bill Fennelly talks to his team daily about having an impact on winning. He tells them that their impact on a win could come in many forms, whether it is on defense, rebounding or scoring. Alison Lacey's impact can be found in a number of statistical categories, but her impact on ISU's scoring is dramatic. She has either scored or assisted on 43.9 percent of Iowa State's points this season, despite missing four entire games. She has assisted on 170 field goals and half of those (85) have come on three-point field goals by her teammates.
Fennelly on Track for 500
Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly is on track to reach his 500th career victory. He has 496 wins in his head coaching tenure at Iowa State and Toledo. Fennelly would become the 25th active Division I women's basketball coach to reach the 500-win mark in his career. He will be the 41st Division I coach to reach that remarkable milestone.
Academic All-Big 12
Iowa State had four student-athletes named to the 2010 Academic All-Big 12 teams, two on the first team and two on the second. Seniors Shellie Mosman and Anna Florzak each represented Iowa State on the first team for the first time in their careers. Mosman graduated with a degree in accounting in just three years. She is currently working on her masters degree in accounting and holds a 3.98 cumulative grade-point average. Florzak holds a 3.45 GPA in marketing. Kelsey Bolte was named to the second team for the second consecutive season and holds a GPA of 3.05 in communication studies. Senior Genesis Lightbourne also picked up her first career Academic All-Big 12 honor, landing on the second team with a two-semester cumulative GPA of 3.17 in psychology.
20-Win Club
Iowa State was the second Big 12 team this season to reach the 20-win mark, behind Nebraska. The Cyclones have earned 20 wins in each of the last four campaigns. ISU has tied the school record for regular-season victories with 23. Iowa State has had 11 seasons with 20 wins or more, including 10 times in Fennelly's tenure.
Lieberman Award Finalist
• Alison Lacey was named one of eight finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award, a national project of the Rotary Club of Detroit honoring the nation's top collegiate point guard in Division I women's basketball. She ranks second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio and has constantly ranked in the top 10 in assists per game this season, currently ranking ninth nationally and second in the Big 12 with 6.3 dimes a contest. The Canberra, Australia, native ranks sixth in Big 12 scoring with 16.5 points per game and has been in double figures in 24 games this season.
• Lacey is one of three players from the Big 12 to be named a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, including Oklahoma's Danielle Robinson and Oklahoma State's Andrea Riley. The other five point guards include: Nadirah McKenith (St. John's), Samantha Prahalis (Ohio State), Sam Quigley (DePaul), Jasmine Thomas (Duke) and Courtney Vandersloot (Gonzaga).
Snapping Streaks
The Iowa State football team snapped a number of streaks during the fall, and the Cyclone women's basketball team has followed their lead this season. Most recently, Iowa State's win over No. 11 Baylor was the first in seven tries against the Lady Bears. ISU's win over then-No. 11 Oklahoma snapped a six-game losing skid to the Sooners, and the Cyclones' win over Texas a few days earlier also snapped a couple of losing streaks for ISU. It was ISU's first win over the Longhorns in Austin since 2000, a streak of four straight losses. The win over UT also snapped a four-game losing streak to teams ranked in the AP Top 25, and a five-game losing streak to teams ranked in the AP Top 25 on the road.
1,000-Point Club Members
Alison Lacey joined the Iowa State 1,000-point club last season in the home win over Nebraska. She was the 21st player in school history to reach that mark and currently ranks sixth in ISU career scoring with 1,592 points. Junior Kelsey Bolte joined Lacey in that club in ISU's win over Kansas State. She was the 22nd player in school history to reach the mark and currently holds 1,055 career points. Eight times in school history ISU has had two or more 1,000-point club members on the same squad.
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Friday, March 20
Friday, March 20
Sunday, March 15
