The ISU women’s basketball team shot a season-low 32.4 percent from the field Wednesday night, but that didn’t matter against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Cyclones (5-1) continued their airtight defense, holding the Hawkeyes (5-3) to season lows in field-goal percentage and points while picking up a 58-44 victory at Hilton Coliseum.

Coach Bill Fennelly said the first half, during which Iowa State held Iowa to 17.2-percent shooting, may have been the best half of defense he has seen in his 13 seasons in Ames.

“You learn about your team when they’re not making shots,” Fennelly said. “When we weren’t making shots, no one panicked – we just kept guarding.”

“You walk off the court at halftime and it’s 28-13, and it’s like they went for two and missed an extra point or something.”

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said the Iowa State defense did a tremendous job of shutting her team down.

“They played a great defensive basketball game, especially in the first half,” Bluder said. “If I could have that whole first half back, that would be great – unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.”

The Hawkeyes ended up shooting only 29.3 percent for the game, and those shooting woes were prevalent during a 17-2 run in the first half that did Iowa in. The Cyclones were able to stretch their lead from 5-4 at the 15:52 point of the half to 22-6 with 5:29 to go. Iowa was only able to get within eight points from then on.

A big part of the Cyclone defense was the ability of sophomore Alison Lacey and several of her teammates to slow down Iowa’s leading scorer, Kristi Smith. Smith had 14 points, many of which came late in the game, and only shot 5 of 14 from the field.

Lacey said Smith’s nonstop hustle made her tough to guard.

“I know she ran me to death around the floor,” Lacey said. “She’s a good player, but we did a good job of stopping her.”

Senior Toccara Ross, in her final game against Iowa, led the Cyclones with a double-double, recording 15 points and 10 rebounds. Lacey, along with her defense, chipped in 17 points and four assists. Junior Heather Ezell also reached double figures with 10 points.

Ross said this game meant a lot to her and some of the upperclassmen, so they tried to convey that to some of the younger players.

“I would take an Iowa-Iowa State rivalry game over a Big 12 game, sometimes,” Ross said. “It’s the type of passion you have when you’re out there.”

Iowa State was able to out-rebound the Hawkeyes, 46-44, and had a 40-16 edge on points in the paint despite a distinct height disadvantage at most positions. The Cyclones were also able to force Iowa into 17 turnovers while only turning the ball over five times themselves.

Two of those turnovers were offensive fouls, and Fennelly said he was impressed with how his team took care of the ball, only committing three ball-handling errors.

“We had five turnovers in 40 minutes of Division I basketball, which is amazing,” Fennelly said.

Juniors Wendy Ausdemore and Megan Skouby had 16 and 10 points for the Hawkeyes, respectively.

The Cyclones return to the court at 2 p.m. Sunday with a game at Drake.