To women’s basketball assistant coach Jack Easley, a blocked shot is a game-changer.

So junior center Nicky Wieben’s recently claim to the ISU career record for blocks should be considered an accomplishment.

“A blocked shot can change a game. It gets the crowd in the game, frustrates opposing players, and it can also change game plans,” Easley said. “All of which are very important.”

Wieben’s record-breaking 156th denial has unfortunately been overshadowed by another piece of game-changing news – a season-ending injury, which was ironically sustained just four minutes after the new record was set.

Wieben keeps her head level regarding breaking the record. She said her team is her first priority, claiming that in no way does she want this feat defining her career.

“Like I always say, it’s anything that I can do to help the team. Getting a block, getting a rebound, scoring a couple extra points – it’s just anything I can do to help the team,” Wieben said. “It’ll be nice that it’s there, but it’s not going to be the highlight of my career.”

Wieben accomplished the school’s record last Wednesday in a tough road loss to Texas. She was two blocks shy of the record coming into the game and went without a block in the first half. In the second half, she came out and picked up two quick blocks. The two were her 34th and 35th of the season and the 155th and 156th of her still young two-and-a-half-year career.

Former Cyclone All-American Angie Welle played for the Cyclones from 1999-2002 and accumulated 155 blocked shots. She is now second to Wieben.

Easley is the post coach for the team and has been coaching Division I women’s basketball for over 25 years. He says true shot blockers are rare, but that Wieben has what it takes to be one of the few that he’s coached.

“I’ve been coaching Division I basketball for 25, years and she would be one of only a handful of players that I would classify as a true shot blocker,” Easley said.

Wieben, an Ankeny graduate and four-time high school state champion, is no stranger to denying opponents’ shots. She is the all-time leading shot-blocker in Ankeny girls’ basketball history. She claims her height is the reason she’s able to alter the game with such frequency and that her blocks are usually unintentional.

“I think a lot of it just comes with the fact that I’m 6-foot-4,” Wieben said. “Coach really says me and Joc [forward Jocelyn Anderson] are the only people that should try and block shots. It’s not something I really work on or anything – it just kind of comes natural.”

The fact that Wieben claims the majority of her blocks without meaning to perfectly fits head coach Bill Fennelly’s description of a good shot-blocker – the best ones do it accidentally.

“The thing with Nicky and Joc both is that they’re long and athletic,” Fennelly said. “The only two players that are supposed to try and block a shot are Nicky and Joc, and good shot blockers – not that we’ve had many – are people that get them, they don’t go for them.”

Anderson is a junior first year transfer from DMACC. She is also 6 feet 4 inches tall, and she averaged seven blocks per game during her sophomore year of high-school and 5.3 blocks a game last year at DMACC. She and Wieben are the biggest reasons the Cyclones are currently second in the conference in blocked shots. With Wieben out, Anderson will have to carry blocking duties herself. It’s only been one game, but she’s been successful, blocking three shots in her debut in a home loss to Nebraska last Saturday.

Wieben’s injury has her sidelined for the rest of this season. The good news, however, is that she is only a junior and will have a chance to add on to her own record next season.