AMES, Iowa – The No. 25 Iowa State women’s basketball team (17-5 overall, 8-4 overall) played a sterling first half, led by 51-29 at the break and never looked back in a 87-71 win over Kansas State (12-11 overall, 3-8 Big 12) Saturday in Hilton Coliseum.
Hallie Christofferson had a career-high 25 points and Chelsea Poppens 22 points and 18 rebounds as Iowa State won its third straight Big 12 game and is 8-4 in conference play for the first time since 2010. Poppens’ 18 rebounds moved her into second place in Iowa State history, giving her 979 career rebounds.
Iowa State scored the first six points of game bolting out to a 23-8 advantage with 11:53 left in the first half. The Cyclones were red hot, hitting on 19-of-31 (.613) shots, including 5-of-11 (.455) three-pointers before halftime. The Iowa Staters pounded the ball inside to Poppens, who tallied 20 first-half points. The Cyclones outscored the Wildcats 24-8 in the paint in the initial stanza. A three by Christofferson with 5:10 left in the first half gave Iowa State a 42-18 lead with 5:10 left before halftime.
Kansas State, led by 34 points from Brittany Chambers and 25 from Mariah White, was never closer in the second half than the final margin. The victory was Iowa State’s biggest over the Wildcats in 20 games, dating back to a 78-59 win in Hilton on Jan. 5, 2005. The Cyclones dished out 29 assists, including a career-best tying 13 by point guard Nikki Moody. The 29 assists were a season high and with 11 turnovers the Cyclones had their best assistant/turnover differential of the 2012-2013 campaign.
Iowa State plays at No. 23 Oklahoma Thursday at 7 p.m. CST on Fox Sports Net.
