Who you gonna call? For the No. 9 ISU gymnastics team it’s Erin Dethloff.

“Coming in, she has ghosts from Missouri,” said ISU gymnastics coach K.J. Kindler. “She’s had a tough time in this arena in the past.”

Dethloff showed she wasn’t afraid of no ghosts, with a season-high 39.375 first-place performance in the all-around, including a career-high 9.850 on the beam, earning her second place.

Kindler said Dethloff’s performance in the all-around was a difference maker for the team.

“She got rid of those ghosts tonight,” she said.

After weeks of wobbly performances on the balance beam, the No. 9 ISU gymnasts worked the kinks out Friday night to top No. 7 Missouri, 196.175-195.875, in front of 1,518 fans in Columbia, Mo.

Coming into the meet on the beam, Missouri (3-7, 0-2 Big 12) was ranked No. 4 in the country while Iowa State (6-2, 1-0 Big 12) had been struggling all season. In the past, Kindler said despite the struggles, she believed that beam should actually be Iowa State’s best event.

On Friday, Iowa State defeated Missouri on the beam 49.100-49.000, with five Cyclone gymnasts earning 9.80 or higher on beam to take five of the top six places.

“When we go to an away meet, we always finish on beam, so this is a situation we’re going to be in over and over again this year,” Kindler said.

“Obviously, going on the road to a team that has a lot of confidence, ranked above us and then ending on beam is a tough thing to do and they handled the pressure beautifully.”

Kindler pointed out the Cyclones led the whole meet by a very small margin, and were able to break away from Missouri on the beam.

“They were flawless up there and very confident,” she said. “We went six for six on beam, which is something we hadn’t done yet this year at all.”

Junior Janet Anson said the weeks of hard work on beam in practice paid off.

“We were just so confident going to beam and we knew that every tenth was going to count, so we just went out and did what we did in practice and it paid off. We rocked all six solid beam routines,” she said.

Redshirt sophomore Jade Kvach said the team’s beam performance just shows that they can compete against every single team that they’re put up against.

“I’m really, really proud of how everyone did,” she said. “We really did a good job of putting it all together, so we’re really excited about that.”

The Cyclones also had strong performances on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise, attaining scores of 49.025, 48.925 and 49.125, respectively.

“We scored over 49.000 on three events today, which is something we haven’t been able to do in a competition yet,” said Kindler. “I think we’ve only gone 49.000 on two events once. To go 49.000 on three events was awesome.”

As for individual performances, the Cyclones stepped up when it mattered most.

Eight ISU gymnasts had career- or season-high scores on at least one event.

Dethloff, Anson (39.250) and Kvach (39.225) took the top three places in the all-around. For Kvach, it was a chance to redeem herself after struggling against Iowa on Jan 28.

“It was just really good to be able to hit all four events tonight and I really tried to finish up like I did last weekend and be aggressive all the way through,” she said.

Kindler said she was proud of Kvach’s performance against the Tigers.

“She was on fire and she was very consistent, and that was huge for us,” she said.

On Friday, the Cyclones head to Norman, Okla., to take on No. 6 Oklahoma. Anson said the team is looking forward to the challenge.

“This win was huge for the team’s confidence,” she said. “Our confidence is so high right now coming off of two huge wins. We’re excited to go to Oklahoma.”

After watching her team’s performance against Missouri, Kindler said she is confident that the Cyclones are ready for the challenge ahead.

“Obviously, going on the road and going against an opponent that’s ranked higher than you is a challenge and when you stand up to that challenge and come through, that experience is invaluable,” she said. “I can’t replace it with any workouts or any practices that we’ll ever have.”