Coming off a pair of close losses to Big 12 foes Oklahoma and Kansas, Iowa State got 25 points from senior Kelsey Bolte and had an impressive night from the charity stripe as they held on to beat Kansas State 61-53 at Hilton Coliseum.

“This was a really, really great day all the way around,” said coach Bill Fennelly. “It was nice that our players did their job and made this day great for everyone.”

Both the Cyclones (17-7, 5-5 in Big 12) and Wildcats (16-6, 6-3) wore pink uniforms and shoes as part of WBCA Pink Zone games being held across the country to raise awareness for cancer and raise funds for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

“We obviously really needed a win, we needed to get back on the winning side of things and coming back and doing it for the Pink Zone game in front of all of our fans it really means a lot to us,” Bolte said.

Bolte, who eclipsed the 20-point mark for the ninth time in ten Big 12 games this season, was a perfect 12-of-12 from the free-throw line as the Cyclones shot 21-of-26 from the line as a team.

The Ida Grove native scored eight of the Cyclones first 16 points as the Cyclones took an early 16-12 lead. The Wildcats hung around in the first half taking a 19-18 lead but an 11-2 run propelled the Cyclones to a 38-27 lead at halftime.

Both teams had a sluggish start to the second half as the Cyclones missed their first eight shots and didn’t score until the 14:34 mark while Jalana Childs scored the lone bucket for the Wildcats in the first five minutes. The Wildcats cut the lead to 48-46 with 3:45 remaining but the Cyclones made nine of their last 12 free throws and never relinquished their lead.

Sophomore center Anna Prins chipped in with 10 points and freshman forward Hallie Christofferson nearly had her first career double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds.

Childs led the Wildcats in points and rebounds with 21 and five. Brittany Chambers also scored 15 first-half points and finished with 17.

The Cyclones will be back in action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. as they head to Lubbock, Texas to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders.