The Lowdown

The No. 23 Cyclones (20-6, 11-5 Big 12) avoided a season sweep against Kansas, defeating the Jayhawks 83-68 Wednesday night in Hilton Coliseum behind a 22-point performance from forward Chelsea Poppens.

Both teams started red hot from beyond the 3-point line with Iowa State connecting on six of its first attempts from deep. Kansas hit five of its first 10 3’s which led to an early score of 30-28 in favor of Iowa State.

The Cyclones went into the break leading 44-39 after a last second jumper from center Anna Prins and would not give up the lead to the Jayhawks. During the second half, Iowa State outscored Kansas 39-29.

X-Factor

Chelsea Poppens — With yet another double-double, Poppens continues to find ways to score the basketball finishing 22 points and 11 rebounds in the ISU win. She shot 5-of-13 from the floor but went 12-of-13 on free-throws.

Poppens also added 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Turning Point

After clawing its way back into the game, Kansas draws the score to 60-57 off of a layup by Asia Boyd. Iowa State would respond, however, with a 3-pointer from Christofferson and a layup from forward Chelsea Poppens on which she was fouled with 9:54 left to play.

Poppens sank the free-throw putting the Cyclones ahead of the Jayhawks 66-57 a lead they would not surrender.

By The Numbers

4— Cyclones—forward Hallie Christofferson, point guard Nikki Moody, forward Chelsea Poppens and center Anna Prins—scoring in double figures in the win.

17— Made free-throws for Iowa State in the win. The Cyclones attempted 20 from the charity stripe giving them a shooting percentage of 85.

43— Rebounds by the Cyclones. Iowa State, which was out rebounded by Kansas in the first meeting between the teams, out rebounded the Jayhawks in the win Wednesday. Kansas collected just 29 boards.

21— Points by KU guard Angel Goodrich. Fellow guard Monica Engelman added 20 points in the KU loss.

Quotables

Anna Prins on the performance of Hallie Christofferson..

“She does it quietly and she’s very humble about it. She is a very consistent player for this team and she’s always willing to do what is needed in every game. This might sound corny but I think she’s a star.”

KU coach Bonnie Henrickson on the importance of point guard Angel Goodrich—who finished with 21 points and nine assists—to the Jayhawks’ lineup..

“Angel, I think, is one of the best point guards in the country. If you’re going to build a program, you build it there first. She’s been unbelievable especially for us her whole career.”

ISU coach Bill Fennelly on how his team responded with a 13-0 run after Kansas came within three points in the second half..

“I really felt we could score on them. I was just disappointed there for awhile. We just weren’t guarding. The had 57 points with 11 minutes to go and end up with 68. I thought the last eight or nine minutes of the game, we defended really, really well.”