Iowa State was introduced to life in the Big 12 in, perhaps, its most physical contest of the season Wednesday night.

The ISU women’s basketball team defeated Texas, 73-65 in overtime Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum in its first Big 12 game of the season.

The Cyclones (10-1, 1-0 Big 12) began conference play with a five-game losing streak last season and for ISU coach Bill Fennelly, the win against the Longhorns (7-5, 0-1 Big 12) means a lot.

“Last year we started 0-5 and knowing how hard it is to win in this league on the road, these are the games that are hard,” Fennelly said. “[My team is] tired, I guarantee you they will walk into practice tomorrow smiling with a little pep in their step.”

Forward Chelsea Poppens and center Anna Prins dealt with foul trouble throughout a night where 46 total fouls were called between Iowa State and Texas. The Longhorns had 30 team fouls with four players fouling out of the game compared to 16 team fouls by the Cyclones and Prins being the only player to record five fouls.

Texas held Iowa State to 6-22 shooting from the 3-point line but UT coach Karen Aston said that caused her squad to give up more looks inside, ultimately hurting the Longhorns.

“We ended up fouling too much and clearly that was the difference in the game was the foul shooting,” Aston said. “It was good but we need to take some lessons from it and look at the film and see where we can be better without fouling.”

It was a “stressful win” for Poppens who played just 29 minutes due to foul trouble, but it is a win that will motivate her team as it heads into 17 more Big 12 games.

“[This win] shows us what we’re capable of and that we won’t back down,” Poppens said. “We’ll come in and work hard until the very end. We’ll celebrate our win but a new game is coming and a new team, so we just have to focus on that tomorrow.”

Guard Nikki Moody recorded her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 assists. Moody went 0-4 in the first half before coming back in the second and going 4-7 from the field and 1-3 behind the arc.

With Texas focusing on its perimeter defense, Moody was allowed to drive to the lane and create shots for herself or teammates, something Fennelly reminded her of throughout the game.

“I kept telling her, you’ve got to get into the gut of the defense and make something happen,” Fennelly said of Moody. “She hit some really tough shots but I thought offensively she was a little more assertive. She’s had a lot of assists, but sometimes she gets caught up in assisting instead of scoring.

“Tonight, the court opened up and you’ve got to shoot. Sometimes passing up a shot is worse than taking one. She was 0-4 in the first half and 4-7 in the second half and every one was pretty damn big.”

Iowa State’s next contest will be a road trip to Texas Tech on Jan. 5. The game in Lubbock, Texas, will tip off at 7 p.m.