After hitting her sixth three-point shot of the game, all Alison Lacey could do was step back and stretch a grin from ear to ear.

It was her third make of the match from near-NBA range, and ran Iowa State’s three-point total to 14 with 8 minutes left in their first round NCAA tournament game against East Tennessee State. Their offensive explosion led them to their highest point total since Dec. 29 as the Cyclones (25-8) ran away with a 85-53 victory in Bowling, Green, Kent.

“It was a good effort by the whole team,” Lacey said.  “Everyone shot the ball great and everyone passed it well. The coaches kept telling me to shoot it, and I always listen to them. Luckily tonight they went in.”

All season long, Iowa State has never had the goal of simply outscoring opponents, but instead has counted on a staunch, methodical defense to control relatively low-scoring games. However, the Cyclones managed to do both against the Buccaneers (20-11) on Sunday night, holding them 18 points below their season average of 71 while scoring more than 80 points for just the fourth time this season. ETSU shot just 30.8 percent from the floor in the game.

“We’ve been a solid defensive team, and tonight we just added some shots to that,” said Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly. “But this was not anything different than we’ve done all year. The kids we’re really locked in and efficient in doing the things we asked them to do.”

Ten of their 16 total three-pointers came in the opening half, helping Iowa State sprint out to a 47-25 lead at the break. In all, seven different Cyclones made shots from downtown. Although Lacey led all players with 18 points, each of the five Iowa State starters finished with double digits and fourteen Cyclones found their way into the scoring column.

“Offensively that was about as well as we have played in a long time,” Fennelly said. “We were efficient, did a lot of great things, and shot the ball real well.”

At the same time in the Lubbock, Texas subregional, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits also hit 16 three-pointers in their first round game against Texas Christian. The mutual long-distance accuracy led both teams to tie for a share of the NCAA record for made three-point shots in an NCAA Tournament game. It was the second-highest mark the Cyclones have reached in a game this season, after the program-high 18 they hit in Ames against Detroit Mercy in Dec. 14

The Cyclones also out-rebounded the Bucs 44-36 and had 22 assists to ETSU’s nine.

Heather Ezell led the Cyclones with seven assists to her eleven points, while Kelsey Bolte had 12 points to go along with her team-high eight rebounds. With her three treys on Sunday, Ezell’s career total now stands at 282, just five behind Megan Taylor for first place on the Iowa State all-time list.

Iowa State will now face the 12th-seeded Ball State, who upset 5-seed Tennessee on Sunday in the second round at Diddle Arena on the campus of Western Kentucky. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.