Senior Heather Ezell, the ISU women’s basketball team’s leading scorer, did not score for first 35 minutes of Iowa State’s 63-55 win over No. 21 Oklahoma State Saturday.

Her first points of the game, however, gave the Cyclones (13-2, 1-0 Big 12) the lead for good at 53-50 in their Big 12 opener and were a part of a 13-0 Iowa State run down the stretch.

“Heather hits one shot and that shot put us up three,” coach Bill Fennelly said. “It’s ironic that came off a hustle play from Amanda.”

Ezell said she felt lucky to be as open as she was on the play.

“I just got the ball and no one was on me,” Ezell said. “Coach always says ‘shoot it before you throw it away’ and one finally fell.”

With Ezell and Alison Lacey struggling, the Cyclones needed a spark offensively and that came from senior post players Nicky Wieben and Amanda Nisleit. Wieben had 23 points and seven rebounds and Nisleit had 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end, showcasing the hustle Fennelly mentioned.

“The shots weren’t falling so we knew we had to get as many opportunities as we could,” Nisleit said.

Fennelly said the 15 offensive rebounds Wieben and Nisleit helped corral were huge in making up for a 4 of 21 night from 3-point range.

“We have talked at length about being a better offensive rebounding team because to be perfectly blunt right now we are not a very good shooting team,” Fennelly said. “You have to get extra shots and find a way to win.”

After the Ezell three, Ezell drove the lane on the next trip down the floor and was intentionally fouled. OSU coach Kurt Budke vehemently argued and was given a technical foul. Ezell and Alison Lacey each hit two free throws to help salt the game away.

“I thought the original call was not an intentional foul and then there was a huddle and then it was an intentional foul,” Budke said. “I guess that was my gripe.”

Those shots helped the Cyclones hold a 23-6 advantage at the free-throw line and held a 46-30 advantage on the boards, which offset the troubles from beyond the arc.

Wieben had 12 points early to give the Cyclones an early 12-6 lead, but after that Iowa State went cold and only scored nine more points in the half. The Cowgirls went on a late 11-1 run to take a 32-21 lead into the break. Oklahoma State standout Andrea Riley scored six points in the run and 20 of her 32 points in the first half.

“Andrea Riley is as close to unguardable as a player we have ever played against,” Fennelly said. “Our plan was to make her shoot a lot of shots, and we asked Heather to do an impossible job.”

Ezell said Riley’s multitude of talents makes her extremely tough to guard.

“You just have to pick and choose where you go and not play into her emotion, which she tries to get you to do,” Ezell said.

Riley took 28 of the 62 shots for the Cowgirls (11-3, 0-1) but went cold early in the second half as Iowa State scored the first eight points of the half. Oklahoma State re-extended their lead to seven but Nisleit scored 10 of her points to get the Cyclones in position to make their late run.