Bill Fennelly took an opportunity to write his own headline Sunday after his team’s win.

The ISU women’s basketball coach was quick to point out Cal-State Fullerton out-played and out-coached Iowa State in the first half of the Cyclones’ 79-52 win Sunday in Hilton Coliseum.

“Iowa State sleepwalks through first half, on fire in the second half,” Fennelly said of what his headline for the game would be.

A big part of Iowa State finding that fire on offense in the second half was because of senior forward Hallie Christofferson. She recorded a career-high 33 points in the Cyclones’ (8-0) win and added eight rebounds.

Fennelly saw Christofferson’s poise when things weren’t falling in favor of Iowa State and willingness to not pass on the responsibility of being a go-to player for her team.

“If Hallie doesn’t do what Hallie does today, I don’t know that we lose, but it’s a different game,” Fennelly said. “But that’s what great players do. Great players pull their team to another level on any given night.”

After a first half where Iowa State was 0-for-9 from 3-point range and being outrebounded by the Titans (1-7) by a 23-19 margin, the Cyclones decided to switch up defenses in the second half and play man-to-man. Without starter Brynn Williamson — she was out with a head injury sustained in practice — floor spacing proved to be an issue early on for the offense.

“We were just doing it to ourselves,” Christofferson said of the early struggles. “We know that we can play better and we’ve played better in the past. We just wanted to come out in the second half and we were lots more energized and ready to go.”

Iowa State came out in the second half and went 7-of-9 from beyond the arc en route to the win. The team also talked about using ball screens differently in the second half to get Christofferson the ball as well as get some easy jumpshots.

Fennelly said he felt Cal-State Fullerton was very effective in the first half in taking away Christofferson’s ability to make cuts and move on offense, but better court spacing led to a different result on offense for Iowa State in the second half.

“The thing about Hallie is she’s hard to guard because she can do things in space,” Fennelly said. “She can go to the 3-point line, she can post up, she can come off a ball screen, she can come off a handoff and she doesn’t miss many free throws.”

With another career performance in the books for Christofferson, her productivity on the court isn’t shocking anyone anymore, including her teammates.

“It’s Hallie,” said point guard Nikki Moody. “I’m not surprised, but I expect it. I expect the best from her every game and that’s what she did.”