The ISU women’s basketball team unveiled its freshman class Sunday in an 87-59 exhibition win over Concordia-St. Paul.

The Cyclones debuted all five of its newcomers, beginning with starters Rachel Pierson and Nicky Wieben. With a combined 35 points, the freshmen delivered in front of 3,000 fans in Hilton Coliseum.

“I was really impressed with the freshmen, especially how Wieben and Pierson worked together down low,” said junior Megan Ronhovde. “They will really be something when they get it put together.”

Pierson earned her way into a three-way tie for top point honors at 17 with leaders Ronhovde and Lyndsey Medders. The juniors, who played 29 and 23 minutes, respectively, left no doubt to their roles on the team.

“Lyndsey and Ron [Ronhovde] got us off to a good start,” said coach Bill Fennelly. “All the young kids did some good things, and Brittany [Wilkins] played with a lot of energy from start to finish.

“It was a good game, but we’re smart enough to understand where we are and that that’s not the kind of team we’ll face in the Big 12.”

Fennelly said Wieben and Pierson were solid contributors, as well as freshman Heather Ezell, who is nearly a month behind in practice after struggling with a staph infection.

“Rachel and Nicky showed good things their first time out, with Nicky bringing us athleticism and Rachel being a power on the block,” Fennelly said. “Heather was able to make it 29 good minutes, and that was great since we have to have an emergency point guard. She has got to play herself into shape.”

The team’s shooting will be a factor in practice, as it shot just over 50 percent and only 38 percent at the three-point line. Ronhovde was the go-to hand behind the arc with 5-for-8 shooting, as well as 5-for-9 in the paint.

Wilkins rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12 points, securing herself a double-double with 10 rebounds as well. Pierson followed her effort with eight boards for Iowa State, and Medders dished out 10 assists to lead the Cyclones.

“We play these exhibition games just like we would regular games, and it’s a good indication of where we’re at,” Ronhovde said.

“Overall we played really well, and the biggest thing we’ve been pushing has been effort and we got it.”

Fennelly said his goal was to get the younger class as many minutes as possible, but expecting nothing less than 40 minutes from Medders and Ronhovde each will be an unspoken expectation.

“There is a fine line to understand that they are freshmen but that can’t be an excuse, because they can’t play like freshmen,” Fennelly said. “I’ve probably pushed this team harder than any other team I’ve ever coached, because four of the top six players will be freshmen.”

The Cyclones only allowed 13 points from Concordia’s top scorer, because of a split defense that showed 20 minutes of man-to-man and 20 of zone coverage.

Fennelly said the team has had its good days and its bad, but the effort it produced today is something he will always expect.

“We got contributions out of everyone, which was important for us,” he said. “We started to identify roles and rotations a little better today.”

We want to win but we want to have a lot of stuff to work on, which we do.”