Jocelyn Anderson scored a career-high 15 points, and Alison Lacey recorded her first double-double of the season as the ISU women’s basketball team cruised to a 64-46 win over Missouri on Saturday night.

Anderson – who has recently seen more minutes on the court than anyone expected this year – has now set career highs in two consecutive games. The first-year junior transfer from DMACC has now played in her sixth game as the Cyclones’ primary post player and is finally starting to grow into her role.

“It’s been an amazing transformation for her,” said coach Bill Fennelly. “She’s a hard-working, appreciative person who comes in every day, does her job as hard as she can do it, and she’s done it in a situation that is just not fair. There isn’t a basketball player in the women’s’ game this year that has as much pressure as that kid has.”

The season-ending injuries of post players Toccarra Ross and Nicky Wieben have forced Anderson into the spotlight earlier than anticipated. After playing just 18.4 minutes per game before Ross and Wieben were injured, that number has increased to 32.8 in the six games since.

“You can see an improvement lately just in the way she carries herself,” said junior Heather Ezell. “She’s more confident and believes in herself a lot more. Everybody talks about how we lost two post players and we don’t have an inside game, but she’s making up for that.”

While spotty free-throw percentages have plagued her in the past, Anderson was able to hit seven of her nine shots from the charity stripe Saturday. The Cyclones’ 16 free throws were a key factor in distancing themselves from the Tigers, who went up for only five shots the whole night, making four.

The Cyclones (15-7, 4-5 Big 12) started to separate themselves from the Tigers (8-15, 1-9 Big 12) midway through the first half with a 12-0 run. A lay-in by Lacey at the halftime buzzer sent the Cyclones into the locker room with a 29-23 halftime lead.

Defense was the name of the game for Iowa State in the second half, as the Cyclones dropped ten points while shutting out Missouri for the first 5:40 of the half.

“I thought our half court defense was as good as it’s been in a long time,” Fennelly said. “[Alyssa Hollins, Jessra Johnson and Shakara Jones] are really good players, and when Missouri wins games, they average about 52 points a game. When they lose, they’re in the 30s, and we held them to 21.”

After the 10-0 run, the Cyclones rarely saw their lead dip below double digits, as they were able to thwart any comeback bid the Tigers threw at them.

“We had some stupid turnovers in our front court and gave them easy lay-ups to cut the lead,” said Ezell. “Then we started taking care of the ball – got some stops on defense, and had the right person open on the other end and hit some key shots.”

Ezell and junior Amanda Nisleit each had 11 points to join Anderson and Lacey in double figures. Lacey also led all players with seven assists in the game to go along with her 14 points and 10 rebounds.