The women’s basketball team began the season in successful fashion Sunday, beating NCAA Division II competitor St. Cloud State, 72-50, in exhibition action at Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones performed strong from the post, as both forwards Nicky Wieben and Toccara Ross recorded double-doubles. Wieben, a sophomore, had 21 points and 12 rebounds while tallying her third career double-double. Ross, playing her first game as a Cyclone, had 15 points and 10 rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting.

Coach Bill Fennelly said the two played well and was especially pleased to see Ross’ performance.

“I thought Toccara really did well in her first game,” Fennelly said. “That was encouraging. She’s practiced really well and you don’t know how a new player’s going to react. I thought Toccara was really good. That was good for her and good for our team.”

St. Cloud State senior Erika Quigley, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, was the biggest challenge the Cyclones faced entering Sunday’s game.

Quigley led the Huskies to a 29-5 record and the Division II Final Four last season while averaging 22.2 points and 12.6 rebounds per game. This season, she was named the 2006 Women’s Division II Bulletin Preseason Player of the Year.

Fennelly said he knew going into the game that Quigley would pose a problem down low for the Cyclones. Overall, he was pleased with the team’s performance and labeled the win a “good start.”

“I think St. Cloud State’s a very nice team,” Fennelly said. “It was exactly what we thought: They were well-organized, and they had a good post player that gave us some trouble.”

Against a player like Quigley, senior Lyndsey Medders was impressed by the way Ross and Wieben controlled the post.

“They played phenomenal in the post, they were getting rebounds, they were finishing around the hoop,” Medders said. “They did a great job guarding possibly the best player in Division II basketball.”

Medders, the nation’s leader in assists last season, had eight assists to go along with 11 points.

Another impact that Wieben and Ross had on the game was their ability to get offensive rebounds. The two combined for 22 rebounds, nine of them offensive. Fennelly said he was pleased to see Wieben attacking the offensive glass like she did.

“I thought Nicky did really well,” Fennelly said. “She was a little more aggressive on the offensive board, and that’s one thing we’ve really tried to get her to do is offensive rebound the ball a little bit more.”

The Cyclones committed 13 turnovers in the first half and had 20 in the game. Fennelly thought the number of turnovers his team committed was too high and is something the team will try to fix in practice.

“You’re going to make some mistakes,” Fennelly said. “The [turnovers] that are totally our fault – those are the ones we’ve got to clean up, and that’s what [exhibition] games are designed to do.”