CEDAR FALLS — It was an emotionally charged seesaw battle to round out the instate portion of Iowa State’s schedule. But Iowa State pulled away late in the second half to beat Northern Iowa 68-58 Saturday.

The leadership of Iowa State’s five seniors paved the way for a Cyclone comeback in the second half, who trailed by as many as eight points in the first.

“I did challenge the seniors at halftime,” said ISU head coach Bill Fennelly. “This is a huge game for us. We don’t want to look back in March and say we had a chance to win.”

Katie Robinette put Iowa State back in the game midway through the second half, scoring six straight Cyclone points. She finished the game with 14 points and four rebounds.

After being held scoreless in the first half, Mary Fox scored 11, including three 3-pointers in a critical stretch for Iowa State.

“I put Fox on the bench in the second half,” Fennelly said. “Some kids would pout, but she came out and played out of her mind.”

Iowa State’s second leading scorer, Anne O’Neil, was held to two points at the break, but charged back scoring eight second half points to finish with 10 points.

“That’s what you want seniors to do, accept the challenge,” Fennelly said.

The game went back and forth throughout much of the first half; the Panthers took a 30-25 lead into halftime after holding Iowa State to 32.4 percent shooting. The Cyclones were 0 of 6 from behind the 3-point arc.

The Cyclones came out of the gate firing in the second half, as Megan Ronhovde hit a 2-pointer on Iowa State’s first possession, closing the gap to three points. She hit another trey seconds later to tie the score at 32 apiece.

Robinette then scored six straight for the Cyclones, giving Iowa State a 44-36 advantage.

“They took one of their starters out that had been guarding me,” Robinette said.

Traci Ollendieck cut the lead to 44-42 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. After a timeout, Iowa State was called for three seconds in the lane and UNI tied the game on an Alex Cook basket.

“We withstood the one run they had to tie the game and found a way to hold on,” Fennelly said.

From then on, the Cyclones controlled the game, leading by as many as 12 points.

The ISU defense held the Panthers second-leading scorer, Emily Berry, to four points in 40 minutes.

Ronhovde was the Cyclones leading scorer with 16 points; she scored 14 in the second half. Senior Lisa Kriener had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Cyclones.

Northern Iowa got 16 points from Cook and 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks from 6-foot-7 Cassie Hager.

Iowa State 68, Northern Iowa 58

at Cedar Falls

Iowa State (68) — Fox 4-8 0-0 11, O’Neil 4-10 2-3 10, Medders 4-8 0-0 8, Robinette 6-13 2-4 14, Ronhovde 6-10 3-4 16, Stuart 0-1 0-0 0, Paustian 0-0 0-0 0, Kriener 4-9 1-1 9, Wilkins 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 8-12.

Northern Iowa (58) — Biggs 2-9 3-4 7, Faas 2-3 0-0 4, Hager 5-10 5-5 15, Berry 0-5 4-4 4, Cook 7-15 2-2 16, Keefe 0-0 0-0 0, Matthias 0-0 0-0 0, Ollendieck 5-8 0-0 12, Kautzky 0-2 0-0 0, King 0-0 0-0 0, Helle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-52 14-15.

Halftime — Northern Iowa 30, Iowa State 25. Three-point goals — Iowa State 4-14 (Fox 3-6, Medders 0-3, Ronhovde 1-4, Stuart 0-1), Northern Iowa 2-15 (Biggs 0-2, Hager 0-1, Berry 0-5, Ollendieck 2-5, Kautzky 0-2). Rebounds — Iowa State 31 (Kriener 8), Northern Iowa 34 (Hager 10). Assists — Iowa State 17 (O’Neil 5), Northern Iowa 11 (Berry 5). Turnovers — Iowa State 10, Northern Iowa 19. Fouls — Iowa State 15, Northern Iowa 16. Technical foul — Iowa State bench. A — 2,008.