For the first time in four years, the No. 15 Cyclones left Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kan., with a victory.

Iowa State (21–5, 9–4 Big 12) slid past the Jayhawks 57–54 and were led by senior point guard Alison Lacey’s 22 points.

Lacey led not only in points, but also in big plays at big moments.

“It’s a huge win for our team and we’ve played a lot of great teams in this building and not come out of here feeling like we do right now,” said coach Bill Fennelly after the game.

Lacey started a 7–0 run with just three minutes left to play in the game that gave the Cyclones the eventual win, and she sealed the deal with two free throws with 6.5 seconds to play in the game.

Along with her 22 points, Lacey finished with five assists.

On the receiving end of Lacey’s infamous assists were Iowa State’s three freshmen posts — Chelsea Poppens, Amanda Zimmerman and Anna Prins.

Showing their speed down the court, the three posts hustled down the floor in transition, accounting for numerous points off of turnovers for Iowa State.

“All of our freshmen I felt went in and contributed and did some really positive things,” Fennelly said.

“They’ve matured and they’re at the point in the season when they need to play that way and I think at times in the first half we were reacting instead of competing and in the second half we competed and that’s why we ended up finding a way win.”

Prins added 12 points for the Cyclones while Poppens ripped down seven total rebounds. Iowa State out rebounded Kansas 33-30 overall, and 13 to 5 on the offensive end.

The Cyclones scored 21 points off the Jayhawks’ turnovers and committed only 10 turnovers on the night.

The smart play by Iowa State accounted for the second half comeback, when freshmen were playing like upperclassmen and the seniors were making plays seniors can be known for.

“I thought the last two and a half minutes we were very efficient,” Fennelly said.

“Whatever we asked them to do they did it and I think the biggest thing when you come back, you’ve got to stop the other guy from scoring, which we did and then we had to make big plays on offense.”

Lacey wasn’t the only senior on the floor making key plays.

Senior Denae Stuckey, a player known for her tight defense over her shooting percentage, nailed a jumper as the shot clock wound down with 1:20 left to play in the game to put Iowa State up by three.

“Denae might have hit the biggest shot in her life, or at least her time at Iowa State,” Fennelly said. “Seniors make big plays and the other kids did their job.”

While Kansas’ known playmaker Danielle McCray was not on the court due to a recent ACL tear, two freshmen stepped into position and carried some of the weight for the Jayhawks.

Especially in the second half, time and time again post Carolyn Davis came through for Kansas and guard Monica Engelman hit her shots if she wasn’t feeding it to Davis.

“Engelman and Davis have certainly picked up the slack, and them some, after the injury to Danielle McCray,” Fennelly said. “I think the good thing for those two kids is the injury allowed them to play.”

Davis finished with 17 points and Engelman posted 15, and despite the freshmen’s efforts and a four-point lead with three minutes to play, the Jayhawks fell after a Cyclone comeback started by Lacey.

After snatching the ball out of Davis’ hands, Lacey took the ball to the other end for a left-handed layup and drew a foul, putting Iowa State within one.

“You’ve got to find a way to score easy points against Kansas [because] it’s so hard to score on them so we got some transition points and got to the free throw line a little more in the second half,” Fennelly said.

With four key road wins, Iowa State has just two conference games left and remain in contention for a second-place finish in the Big 12.

“[We] did the things that Iowa State does to win and really happy for our kids and hopefully we can come back with one day of prep and beat a team that beat us the first time,” Fennelly said.

With a road win in their pocket, the Cyclones will have one day in Hilton Coliseum to prepare before hosting Kansas State on Saturday in Ames.

Iowa State fell to the Wildcats early in the year in Manhattan, Kan., after senior forward Ashley Sweat lit up the floor for Kansas State and compiled 31 points.

The Wildcats will enter Ames after an overtime loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday.

Kansas State (12-15, 4-9 Big 12) is currently on a four-game losing streak in conference play, and heading into one of the nation’s toughest women’s basketball environments may not be good news for the Wildcats.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.