Alison Lacey picked a great time to play the best game of her young Cyclone career.

With her parents in attendance, Lacey, a freshman from Australia, poured in a career high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting Saturday to lead the Cyclones (16-5, 4-4 Big 12) to a 73-68 victory over Kansas State (15-5, 3-4 Big 12) in front of 10,877 fans at Hilton Coliseum.

“It was the most special game I’ve had here,” Lacey said. “Playing in front of a packed crowd, and [the game] being close, everything just fell together today.”

Lacey shattered her previous career high of 15 points as she scored the first and last points of the game.

She began the game by making a desperate left-handed heave, as the shot-clock wound down, to get Iowa State on the board, then iced the game by converting two free throws to make the score 73-68 with 4.3 seconds left on the clock.

She said having her parents in the building to watch her for the first time as a Cyclone was reassuring.

“I wasn’t nervous for some reason,” Lacey said, adding that her parents’ trip from Australia to Ames took approximately 24 hours. “I didn’t look up at them or anything. It was in the back of my mind that they were here, but I didn’t get nervous. I think it helped me.”

Coach Bill Fennelly said he knew it was Lacey’s night when he saw her make the “running, flying left-handed bank shot,” as he described it.

“Alison obviously played the best game she has played since she’s been at Iowa State,” Fennelly said. “She not only scored 25 points, but she hit some big shots at big times.”

One of those shots came with the score tied at 60 when, with the shot clock winding down, Lacey hit a long three to ignite the home crowd. After a basket by Kansas State’s Claire Coggins, Lacey made a layup, giving the Cyclones a 65-62 lead that they never relinquished.

Kansas State was led by its two starting guards, Coggins and Kimberly Dietz, who kept the game close with their sharp three-point shooting. The duo combined for 11-of-19 shooting from downtown, making lots of tough shots from behind the arc and combining for 46 of the Wildcats’ 68 points.

“Dietz and Coggins can really shoot it; we knew it going in,” Fennelly said of the tandem. “They made some shots, they’re good players and they run some good plays.”

Guard Lyndsey Medders had a quiet game, scoring only four points on 1-of-8 shooting. Despite struggling from the field, Medders still contributed to the win, dishing out 10 assists and catching the eye of Lacey, who benefited greatly from Medders’ passing.

“If she’s not scoring, she’s doing something else,” Lacey said. “Opportunities were there [to score], so I just took them when they were there.”

Fennelly said although Medders did not score, she had a big impact on the game with her defending and management of the offense.

“I thought she really distributed the ball great, and I think she saw how they were defending her,” he said.

“She really played the game like a senior point guard needs to play it.”

The win pulled the Cyclones back to .500 in the Big 12, where they now sit in sixth place. The Cyclones next game will be in Lincoln, Neb., as they face the No. 25 Cornhuskers (17-4, 5-2 Big 12) on Wednesday night.