Prins Leads Cyclone Rout of Lehigh, 79-42

AMES, Iowa – The No. 16 Iowa State women's basketball team jumped out to an early 12-0 lead en route to a 79-42 victory over Lehigh in the first round of the NCAA Championship in Hilton Coliseum Sunday night.

Anna Prins paced the Cyclones with her first career double-double, pouring in a career-high 21 points and tying a career high in rebounds with 10. ISU, which improved to 24-7 overall and won its fourth consecutive first round NCAA Championship game in the last four years, held Lehigh to an ISU opponent-low 22.0 percent from the field. The win came in front of a pro-Cyclone crowd of 6,738, as ISU was hosting NCAA Tournament first and second round games in its home arena for the first time since 2002.

Iowa State had a 12-1 lead before Alex Ross knocked down Lehigh's first field goal at the 13:01 mark of the opening period. At the second media timeout the Cyclones had expanded their lead to 14-3 while the Mountain Hawks were mired in a shooting slump, connecting on just 1-of-12 shots from the floor to start the game.

ISU hit three long-range shots to help increase its lead, as Kelsey Bolte buried a pair of bombs and Prins recorded another to give ISU a 25-12 advantage with 5:20 left before the break.

Prins made two baskets in the final minute of the opening period, including a putback at the buzzer, to give ISU a comfortable 35-20 lead at the break. Prins had 13 first-half points to lead all players.

After spotting Lehigh the first five points of the second half, ISU quickly countered with nine-straight points in less than two minutes to make it 44-25 ISU with 16:54 remaining. Chelsea Poppens had five points in the 9-0 Cyclone run.

The lead ballooned to 24 points (59-35) after a conventional 3-point play from Poppens and a deep trey from Whitney Williams at the 8:32 mark of the second half. ISU cleared the bench soon after, including resting Alison Lacey, who scored seven points in her first outing back after missing three games with pneumonia. Lacey received a standing ovation from the partisan crowd when she went to the bench with 11 minutes left in the game.

Poppens added 18 points, going 5-of-6 from the field and 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. The Cyclones made 49.2 percent of their shots from the field and missed just one free throw in the game (14-15 FT).

ISU will face Green Bay in the second round of the NCAA Championship Tuesday night in Hilton Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. Fans can order tickets online by clicking here.

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Team Stats

Anna Prins

Chelsea Poppens

Kelsey Bolte

Alison Lacey

Players Mentioned

Kelsey Bolte

Kelsey Bolte

Kelsey Bolte

Alison Lacey

Alison Lacey

Alison Lacey

Chelsea Poppens

Chelsea Poppens

Anna Prins

Anna Prins

Whitney Williams

Whitney Williams

Whitney Williams

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