Cyclones Fire Up 74-57 Win Over Bowling Green

AMES, Iowa ? Five Iowa State players finished in double figures to lead a balanced effort in a 74-57 win over Bowling Green State Friday night in the American Family Insurance Cyclone Shoot-Out at Hilton Coliseum.

The two teams hit a combined 23 three-pointers in the contest, but Iowa State held an 18-10 margin in the paint that proved to be the difference. The Cyclones hit 51.9 percent from the floor, while holding the Falcons to 38.6 percent shooting. ISU knocked down 48.3 percent from beyond the arc, while BGSU hit 36.7 percent from outside.

The Cyclones improved to 9-2 on the season, while Bowling Green, a team that went to the Sweet 16 last season, dropped to 8-3 on the campaign.

“Obviously the score does not indicate how close the game was,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “I thought Bowling Green played an outstanding game. It was everything we anticipated. They are very well coached, and they play hard. We shot the ball great, luckily.”

Heather Ezell led the Cyclones with 15 points, while Amanda Nisleit and Jocelyn Anderson each contributed career highs with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Alison Lacey added 13 points and Nicky Wieben turned in 11. Kelsey Bolte led the team on the glass with eight boards. As a team, the Cyclones had nine steals, seven blocked shots and 22 assists on 27 field goals.

Bowling Green was led by Lauren Prochaska and Kate Achter with 18 points each. The Falcons hit 11 three-pointers, including four by Prochaska. The Cyclones had 12 treys, with five coming from Ezell.

Bowling Green got out to a blistering start, hitting its first two three-point attempts to jump out to an early 6-0 lead. After ISU hit a pair of field goals, the Falcons knocked down another trey for a 9-4 advantage. Anderson hit a basket for ISU to tie the game at 9-all, and another one to tie it again at 11-all.

After getting behind 17-15, the Cyclones starting finding their range from beyond the arc as Bolte knocked down a three-pointer to spark an 8-0 Iowa State run for a 23-17 lead. The Falcons cut the lead to four before the Cyclones answered with another10-0 run for a 33-21 advantage. Bowling Green ended the half with a 9-2 run to send the Cyclones to the locker room clinging to a slight 35-30 lead.

The Falcons cut into the lead to make it just a four-point advantage, 41-35, on a three-pointer by Prochaska, but Iowa State scored nine unanswered points and held BGSU scoreless for a three-minute stretch, that put the Cyclones up 46-35. Bowling Green cut it back to six with seven and a half minutes to go, 54-48, but Nisleit and Ezell hit back-to-back treys that built the cushion again and ignited a flurry of three-point field goals for the Cyclones that helped them put the game away.

The Cyclones will play Tennessee-Martin on day two of the Cyclone Shoot-Out Saturday. The Skyhawks fell, 57-47, to Hampton in the tournament opener on Friday evening. Bowling Green and Hampton will meet at 5:30 p.m., while the Cyclones will face UT-Martin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.

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Team Stats

Heather Ezell

Amanda Nisleit

Alison Lacey

Nicky Wieben

Players Mentioned

Jocelyn Anderson

Kelsey Bolte

Heather Ezell

Heather Ezell

Alison Lacey

Alison Lacey

Amanda Nisleit

Amanda Nisleit

Nicky Wieben

Nicky Wieben

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