Free throws aren’t always the most exciting points in a game, but they can make the difference between a win and a loss.

Iowa State and Kansas State discovered this Sunday when the Cyclones took down the Wildcats 61-53 and gave them just four free throw opportunities.

“It was phenomenal for us,” said senior Kelsey Bolte. “In the first half they didn’t have any [free throws] so that’s one of the main things that we really focused on in the game, to limit their free throw attempts and limit the fouls we had.”

Sunday’s game was a much-needed win for Iowa State (17-7, 5-5 Big 12), as the Cyclones recently suffered two close losses on the road. Last week the team went down to Oklahoma 65-62 and Kansas 86-85 in overtime.

Wins shouldn’t come for free, but the Cyclones gave both the Sooners and the Jayhawks a myriad of opportunities for free points. Oklahoma made 14-of-16 free throw attempts and Kansas went 18-of-25 from the line.

Coach Bill Fennelly said when the team plays well, like it did against Kansas State (16-7, 6-4), it doesn’t foul.

“We didn’t play that way against Kansas, and we got called for a lot of fouls,” Fennelly said. “The games we lost we fouled at bad times. Today our positioning was better, our attention to detail and who we were guarding was better and then you don’t commit fouls.”

Sunday, the Cyclones only committed two shooting fouls against the Wildcats, who ended the night with just three points from the line. The Cyclones, on the other hand, were 21-of-26 from the charity stripe.

Bolte helped out by making all 12 of her free throw attempts, marking the best among all Big 12 players in conference play this season.

“We’ve changed our offense a lot in the past three weeks to get her going to the basket so she gets fouled,” Fennelly said. “She doesn’t miss many free throws and sometimes that’s an easier way to get [points for] a kid who is being guarded like crazy — they can’t guard her on the free throw line.”

The Cyclones will take on Texas Tech at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Lubbock, Texas.