It has been seven years and 14 match-ups since the Cyclones last defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Iowa State, however, put an end to the Huskers’ streak with a 6-5 roller-coaster win.

No. 16 Nebraska came in red hot, having won 12 of its last 13 games. The Cyclones win over the Cornhuskers was their second win in three games against a ranked team.

“It gives you momentum for the season, and a lot of confidence to go into the next games, too,” second baseman Jennifer Bigbee said of the win. “All the teams in the Big 12 are great teams, so you just have to bring your game each time.”

With the Cyclones trailing 5-4 in the fifth inning, Bigbee helped lift the Cyclones to the win with a dramatic two-run home run with two outs. It was the third home run of the season for Bigbee, who was homerless in her career before hitting a similar home run against Drake.

“She has been seeing the ball really well lately,” said coach Stacy Gemeinhardt. “She has worked so hard and it’s great to see people that work that hard have success.”

The home run by Bigbee marked the third time in the game that Iowa State’s offense came from behind to tie or take the lead, a positive sign for an offense that has struggled traditionally when falling behind.

“We’re starting to show ourselves that we can score runs and that if we get down, we can come back,” said pitcher Alyssa Ransom. “The more it happens, the more confidence we’ll get, and – from here on out – we shouldn’t doubt ourselves when we’re down.”

The offense not only came from behind, but each time they showed resiliency, scoring all six runs after two outs had already been recorded, something they feel is another positive sign the offense is coming around.

“It means that we’re not giving up when we got two outs,” Bigbee said. “When you have that sort of pressure on you and you can score with two outs, that’s good because it means you had confidence in yourself.”

After the Cyclones had retaken the lead 4-3 in the third inning, Ransom surrendered the lead, giving up two solo home runs. The home runs could have been devastating, but team members confessed they weren’t even worried.

“I really didn’t have a feeling that anybody was down and there really wasn’t any doubt that we were going to score runs,” Gemeinhardt said. “So it wasn’t a situation where we panicked or we thought we couldn’t score again.”

Ransom surrendered the lead three times during the game, giving up five runs on nine hits, but settled down after Bigbee’s home run, retiring the final six batters she faced. The confidence the offense showed by coming back seemed to give pitcher Alyssa Ransom the boost she needed on a day when she didn’t have overpowering stuff.

“As a pitcher, I bet it gives a huge confidence boost knowing that her offense is working for her hard,” Bigbee said. “All she can do is go out and throw her game and she stayed on it and we came through for her.”

Gemeinhardt was also impressed with her pitchers performance.

“After giving up those two home runs, I really don’t think that it fazed her,” she said. “She went out there in the seventh and had the [No.] 2, 3, 4 batters up and was able to go three up, three down. I thought that was very impressive.”

The win gives the Cyclones (19-20) their 19th win of the season, which surpasses last year’s total and pushes their Big 12 record to 3-6. The Cyclones will go for win number 20 when they travel to Nebraska (32-8, 6-4) on Thursday for the rematch.