No matter where Iowa State travels in the Big 12, the competition is always seems ready to play. The Buffaloes, at a low spot in the conference, put in a tremendous effort against the Cyclones in Boulder on Saturday.

“Winning here is always tough. It’s a tough environment for us,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “We have a win at Nebraska and a win at Colorado — those games are few and far between in this league.”

Iowa State not only earned its fifth consecutive win, but also held its fifth opponent to 50 points or less in the Cyclone 53-47 victory in Boulder, Colo. on Saturday.

Iowa State went on a huge run against Colorado in the first half, leading 24-8 midway through the first period. The Cyclones forced 10 Buffalo turnovers in the first half alone, which led to 14 Cyclone points.

“Defense is always a big part of the game. It was a huge factor today, this wasn’t the best game we played, but keeping them under 50 [points] and us being able to score, that’s how big defense was in this game,” junior Cyclone guard Denae Stuckey said.

The Buffaloes put a run of their own together, going 9-0 against the Cyclones to finish out the first half.

At halftime it was 31-22, Cyclones on top. Colorado came out ready after halftime, cutting Iowa State’s lead to only five points after just over three minutes into the second half.

The Buffaloes slowly chipped away at the Cyclone lead in the second half. Colorado out-scored the Cyclones 25-22 in the half.

After a jumper from Kelsey Bolte, Iowa State was up 13 points with slightly more than seven minutes to play in the game. After a Nicky Wieben made layup with just over five minutes to play in the game, pushing the Iowa State lead to 10, the Cyclones didn’t hit a shot from the floor the rest of the game.

In the last two minutes the Cyclones went 2-10 at the charity stripe.

“[The win is] huge, especially after coming off the two big wins we’ve had to get another win on the road is really good. Especially in the Big 12 road wins are hard to come by,” said Cyclone senior Heather Ezell, who posted 11 points against the Buffs.

Wieben led the Cyclones with 18 points. ISU guards Alison Lacey and Bolte each had five rebounds.

Amanda Nisleit led the team in assists with five and contributed seven points as well.

Colorado’s Brittany Spears had a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards. Spears also dished in five assists for the Buffaloes.

Off the bench, true freshman Alyssa Fressle had ten points for Colorado and senior Hannah Skildum posted six points. The Cyclones allowed the Buffaloes only two second chance points on the night.

“I am very proud of our team to come out here, and do what they did tonight,” Fennelly said.