The ISU women’s basketball program hauled in its 500th overall victory in front of nearly 10,000 fans Friday night at Hilton Coliseum.

The milestone came in a 76-50 rout of the Montana State Bobcats (2-3) from the Big Sky Conference.

“We just wanted to come out and play hard,” said junior center Nicky Wieben. “We’ll always have a special feeling knowing that we were a part of the team that got the 500th win.”

Coach Bill Fennelly has been at the helm for more than half of those 500 – 266 – but he gives credit to those who came before him.

“It allows you to think and reflect on a lot of people who have put in a lot of time and effort over the years,” Fennelly said. “It’s an honor to be a part of it. I’m glad it’s over, though; I’ve been reading about it, we’d been on 499 for a while – now it’s time to move on.”

The Cyclones (4-1) jumped out to a hot start and led, 16-1, early in the game. They never looked back.

At halftime it was 37-20 and, with 12:17 left, the Cyclones had built their largest lead of the game at 31 points.

Four Cyclones reached double figures in scoring, and two more posted nine points. Arguably the most impressive stat line belonged to junior Amanda Nisleit, who fell one point short of a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

“I actually didn’t know a double-double was in the question,” Nisleit said. “I had no idea how many rebounds I had.”

In the game, Fennelly and his staff set out to shut down Montana State’s top scorer, senior guard Rebecca Mercer, who averaged 15.8 points per game coming into Ames.

“We really wanted to take Mercer out of the game,” Fennelly said. “If we could, that would be critical to our success.”

The team succeeded, and Mercer finished the game with only 4 points on 1-of-7 shooting. The Cyclone defense also held Montana State to an abysmal 34 percent from the field. Iowa State shot 47 percent.

The Cyclones’ solid performance was dimmed by their 19 turnovers, in comparison to the Bobcats’ 13.

“Turnovers are a big thing right now,” said junior guard Heater Ezell. “We have to fix that part of our game. Fortunately, we were able to score and make up for those turnovers in other ways in tonight’s game.”

The Cyclones will vie for their 12th straight nonconference home win on Wednesday night when intrastate rival Iowa comes to town. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Hilton Coliseum.