BERKELEY, Calif. – There was little noise to be heard coming from Iowa State’s cheering section at the Haas Pavilion.

Just three minutes into the game, Michigan State had the Cyclones scrambling to find an answer offensively and defensively as the Spartans put Iowa State in an early 7-0 hole.

“Early in the game we were stunned,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “They came out and punched us in the mouth and we recoiled.”

Each time the Cyclones tried to bring the ball inside, they were met by Michigan State’s dominating inside presence, which was led by 6-foot-9 center Allyssa Dehaan.

With the deficit in the first half reaching as much as nine points, Iowa State needed something to change in order to crack the Spartan defense.

The answer?

Iowa State continued to pound the ball inside, and as a result they drew continual contact from the Spartan players and got to the free throw line.

“We were able to drive on them and get fouls,” said guard Heather Ezell. “Nicky [Wieben] was able to bring Dehaan outside and got her away from the basket. [Alison Lacey] was able to beat her man to the basket and get some fouls and draw some easy shots from the free throw line.”

Foul trouble started to hurt the Spartans early in the game as they put the Cyclones into the bonus with just under five minutes left in the first half. Iowa State capitalized on Michigan State’s 10 first-half fouls by sinking 11-of-13 attempts from the free throw line.

The trend continued for the Spartans in the second half, as Cetera Washington and Lykendra Johnson picked up their third fouls only minutes after coming out of the locker room after the break.

By the end of the night Michigan State had committed 17 fouls, which allowed Iowa State to go 19-of-23 from line.

“It felt like we were doing a pretty good job of defending them,” said Michigan State head coach Suzie Merchant. “There were some tough calls, and we had to sit some kids. I give Iowa State credit for trying to come at us.”

Dehaan echoed her coach’s sentiment, remarking that Iowa State’s free throw advantage exposed a flaw in her team’s game.

“It shows we didn’t attack as much as they did,” Dehaan said. “But you can’t rely on how referees are going to call the game and that’s just something you have to play through. We just weren’t aggressive attacking the basket.”

Dehaan creates headache for the Cyclones

The cause of much of Iowa State’s first half troubles was thanks to the size and shot making ability of Dehaan.

Dehaan had a tremendous height advantage over the Cyclones, making even Iowa State’s tallest player, 6-foot-4 Nicky Wieben, look dwarfed when standing next to her.

This discrepancy in height enabled Dehaan to pick up five blocks in the game, three of which came before halftime.

On top of her defensive output, Dehaan also found a rhythm offensively early on as she scored a team leading 16 points going into halftime.

“I was just trying to have a more aggressive presence, and my teammates did an outstanding job feeding me the ball where I needed it – high and to the basket – and I just laid it in,” Dehaan said.

Knowing adjustments needed to be made to slow down Dehaan, Iowa State focused its second half strategy on trying to bring Dehaan away from the basket.

“We just decided that we had to spread them out and give up a couple of things around the post inside,” Fennelly said. “Our big thing was to not foul and make them shoot the perimeter.”

The move had the desired impact as the Cyclones held Dehaan to eight points (2 of which came from the free throw line). Iowa State also saw the change occur on the offensive side of the court as the team finally started to find success inside.

 “It was a challenge to play against her but I’m proud of our post players for continuing to go at it, even though we got a couple of shots blocked,” said forward Amanda Nisleit.

 Even though Dehaan had less of an impact in the second half, Fennelly lauded her with praise.

“She’s better in person than on video,” Fennelly said. “We guarded her as well as we could guard her. “She’s very patient and she’s been very well coached and knows how to get open.”

“Hilton Magic” makes its presence felt

Even with the Cyclones miles away from the friendly confines of Hilton Coliseum, “Hilton Magic’ still had a presence in neutral Haas Pavilion. The stands near the Cyclone bench were dotted with hundreds of Iowa State fans.

After Iowa State overcame it’s first half deficit, the Cyclone faithful kept a steady cheer going for most of the game, but went deathly quiet after the Spartans appeared to put the game out of reach with 1:27 remaining. But in a matter of minutes, the fans were whipped into frenzy as Iowa State stormed back to win the game.