A low level of energy from the Missouri women’s basketball team resulted in Iowa State’s first-half domination, resulting in a 65–39 victory over the Tigers as the Cyclone surge continued throughout the game. On Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena, Iowa State shut down Missouri after leading 39–15 at halftime, extending its record to 18–4 (6–3 Big 12) as the Tigers fell to 11–11 (1–8 Big 12).

“We were defending well, we were defensive rebounding which led to some transition baskets, and probably more than we’ve had in a long time,” said coach Bill Fennelly. “Chelsea [Poppens] was running the floor, we got some good looks early [which] kind of opened things up.”

Iowa State capitalized in the first period as Missouri came out flat and allowed the Cyclones to score easy baskets in transition. Tiger defenders were left behind as Iowa State continually pushed the ball down the floor.

“We probably couldn’t have played much better in the first half, at both ends,” Fennelly said.

Hustled by the freshman post Poppens, she led the Cyclone offense in the first half, finishing fast-break layups and snatching rebounds left and right. Poppens led Iowa State after the first half in points and rebounds, and in the first 11 minutes of the game, scored 12 of the Cyclone’s first 18 points.

“[Poppens] got some on her own by offensive rebounding, and then we ran a lot of plays for her early in the game and she was scoring,” Fennelly said. “All of [her first half points] were very different; break-away layups, she hits an elbow jumper, she makes two free throws, she gets a put back.”

Poppens had outscored the entire Missouri offense with 3:47 left in the first half, as the Tigers had just eight points total. The Aplington native finished the game with a near double-double with 14 points and nine boards.

“We keep talking about an inside presence who can score in the post and we really wanted to get some opportunities for her and she got some on her own by her effort on the court,” Fennelly said.

Poppens made an impact not only on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end. Poppens was given the job of shutting down Missouri’s leading scorer, Jessra Johnson. The 6-foot-1-inch Johnson finished with just four points on the night, nine points below her season average.

Feeding the ball into Poppens in transition was senior point guard Alison Lacey, who finished with 18 points, seven assists and six boards. Lacey posted five of her seven assists in the first half alone.

Defensively the ISU zone was effective, holding Missouri to a low 16.7 percent from the field in the first half, and outrebounding the Tigers 28–10 in the first.

Missouri’s unseen hustle in the first half was found in the second as the Tigers bounced back in the first four minutes, going on a 7–0 run out of the locker room. With a large lead, the Cyclones came out a bit flat-footed, but bounced back shortly after.

Junior guard Kelsey Bolte nailed a 3-pointer to give Iowa State its first points of the second half at 15:27.

“For 32 of the 40 minutes we played as good as we could’ve played and certainly that was an indication of the final score,” Fennelly said.

Iowa State is off this week, giving the Cyclones a full slate of preparation time to ready for No. 15 Baylor. Iowa State takes on the Bears Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.