Another second-half comeback was the clincher for No. 17 Iowa State as it took down Nebraska 64-43 on Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum.

“This was a game we needed to win,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “When you’re 0-1 and you know you have to go back to Nebraska, this was big.”

After an abysmal first half, the Cyclones (13-3, 1-1 in Big 12) outscored the Cornhuskers (10-6, 0-2 in Big 12) 43-17 in the second half and bumped up their shooting percentage from 32 percent to 58.6 percent.

Despite its second half burst, Iowa State started the game ice cold. Sophomore Anna Prins was the only Cyclone to score until senior Kelsey Bolte scored at 7:59 left in the first half.

The Huskers’ offense was connecting in the first half, and their defense helped out by effectively stifling all Cyclones but Prins, who kept Iowa State alive. This was Prins’s third in a string of outstanding performances, and she contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds.

“[Prins] has really changed our team again,” Fennelly said. “She’s a dynamic scorer and she’s rebounding.”

After halftime, Bolte drove the Cyclone offense, scoring 18 of her 22 points post-intermission. Her energy helped the rest of the Cyclones wake up, and Iowa State blew open the second half with a 22-0 run.

Junior point guard Lauren Mansfield also came alive in the second half, finding holes in the Nebraska defense, which led to more inside scoring. She ended the game with nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

“I just became more aggressive,” Mansfield said. “I found more options, so I just kept taking them, and I looked for them more and more as my confidence gained.”

The Cyclones will next travel to Colorado to take on the Buffaloes at 5 p.m. Saturday.