Sunday’s season opener against Florida Atlantic marked the official unveiling of the 2009 ISU women’s basketball Elite Eight Banner.

The banner served as a subtle reminder on what this season’s team would be asked to follow up.

“The one thing I told our players before the game was we were going to drop the banner for last year’s team, which was a very special team, a very special group of people,” said coach Bill Fennelly. “I just asked them to give us the kind of effort today that team would’ve expected, and I think we did that.”

Injuries to guard Anna Florzak and forwards Genesis Lightbourne and Amanda Zimmerman forced the Cyclones to play shorthanded Sunday. This would prove to be no problem as every Cyclone that was available to play scored in the game.   

Ultimately the Cyclones would prove to be too much for the Owls. Iowa State held Florida Atlantic to just 27.5 percent shooting, forced 21 turnovers and held a rebounding edge of 39–29 on its way to a 80–40 victory.

“Today was a test of how well we could follow a scouting report,” senior guard Alison Lacey said. “[Defensively] I felt we did a lot better than I was expecting us to do. We really wanted to make sure [Florida Atlantic guards Andrea Taylor and Teri Stamps] didn’t get a shot; they had one each.”

Both teams got off to a slow start. Iowa State held on to a 13–6 lead with 9:55 remaining in the first half.

However, the Cyclones would use 20–10 run to close out the first half and take a 33–16 lead into halftime.

The Cyclones were led by freshman center Anna Prins, who scored 13 points in 13 minutes of action. Lacey added eight points and five assists.

Freshman forward Chelsea Poppens averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds in the Cyclones’ two exhibition games. However, Poppens was in foul trouble during the first half, leading to her scoring only one point in three minutes of action.

Holding on to a comfortable lead, the Cyclones would not let up in the second half. Iowa State got off to a much quicker start than it did in the first half.

Freshman guard Chassidy Cole and Prins both hit two 3-pointers to help give the Cyclones a commanding 34-point lead with 7:49 remaining.

Iowa State’s top two scorers were freshmen. Prins led the team with 20 points, including three 3-pointers, shots the freshman center did not expect to get too many attempts at.

“I just take it as it comes, I guess,“ Prins said. “I wasn’t ever expecting to get that many open looks, but that’s the great thing about basketball, you just take [shots] when it’s open or just create off of each play.”

After struggling in the first half, Poppens was able to reassert herself into the offense.

Poppens scored 16 of her 17 points in the second half and added five rebounds, including a fast break layup that proved to be the exclamation point with 28 seconds left.

“It was a bad start for [Poppens] in her first game, she gets two fouls off the bat,“ Fennelly said. “Second half, there haven’t been a lot of players here who have blocked a shot, run down the other end and made a layup or miss a layup, go back and get it and put it right back in. To her credit, this was a game she could have pouted and felt bad for herself.”