Frustrated, stifled and outplayed on the court for 40 minutes, the Cyclones fell to the Hawkeyes 66-46 in Iowa City on Sunday afternoon.

“Iowa played a great game,” coach Bill Fennelly said after the game. “But besides these two [Heather Ezell and Alison Lacey], nobody showed up to play — they should have stayed in Ames.” 

A fair contingency of Cyclone fans arrived at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for another edition of the Cy-Hawk rivalry, but after the first ten minutes of the game, the Hawkeyes held a constant lead, giving the cardinal and gold crowd little to cheer about.

Ezell and Lacey combined for 26 of Iowa State’s 46 points, but the shots weren’t falling for the rest of the team shooting only 36 percent. The Cyclones also only managed seven points off the bench secured.

“We have a lot of players, but I don’t think we really have a lot of depth right now,” Fennelly said. “We had a lot of players just kind of running around out there.”

The unexpected storyline of the afternoon was the performance of Hawkeye role players Kachine Alexander and JoAnne Hamlin, finishing with 18 points each. The opportunity for the duo’s outburst was created by Hawkeye center Megan Skouby’s foul trouble, forcing Iowa to find other forms of offense. The 6-foot-6-inch Iowa senior came into the game averaging almost 16 points per game, but with the presence of Alexander and Hamlin, she didn’t need to.

“Alexander probably played her best game here so far, and we just had a hard time following the scouting report,” Fennelly said.

The Hawkeyes responded to the lack of focus by attacking the defense and hammering the Cyclones. A staggering 25-1 statistic in favor of the Hawkeyes from points off turnovers epitomized the problems the Cyclones had controlling the game.

“We knew they were a good team, but when you foul that much and let them shoot that many free throws [24 attempts to 8], it’s hard to win a game,” Ezell said.  

The game began with tough defensive sets and only three points after four minutes of basketball for both teams. The rest of the first half was made up of Cyclone fouls, Cyclone turnovers and Hawkeye finishes. Going into halftime down 38-27, a visibly dismayed Fennelly set out a plan to get some energy going and hold onto the ball. A defensive foul on the first four UI offensive possessions saw the lead grow bigger for the Hawks.

“We just couldn’t get out of our funk, and fouling was a big issue,” Lacey said.

Constant substitutions by the Cyclones made it difficult to find any sort of rhythm on the offensive side of the ball, and with 25 Hawkeye points from turnovers, the squad didn’t give themselves any breaks.

The Hawkeye lead bloated up over 20 toward in the middle of the second half, and the Cyclones couldn’t create any flashes of offense that gave even an indication towards a comeback.

“I thought we were ready to go,” Ezell said. “We have to come back tomorrow and figure who is ready to recommit.”