Iowa State wore white and Idaho State wore black — but you’d have to forgive fans of either side for any cases of mistaken identity Wednesday night.

The Cyclones and Bengals traded defensive philosophies for a night in Iowa State’s 72-59 win at Hilton Coliseum in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Iowa State’s trademark is its 2-3 zone, but one wouldn’t know from watching Wednesday.

“We probably played more minutes man-to-man tonight than we did all season,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “We thought we’d try it, and overall, I thought it was pretty good.”

Iowa State’s man-to-man effort limited the Big Sky conference runners-up to a 21 percent 6-of-28 effort from the 3-point line, 14 percent below the Bengals’ season percentage from that distance.

Without its outside shooters hitting, Idaho State succumbed early to Iowa State’s dominance inside. Lisa Kriener and Brittany Wilkins combined to hit 9 of 12 shots for 18 points. Idaho State, a man-to-man team, was forced into a zone to counter the Cyclones’ inside threats.

“We haven’t played zone in a month, probably,” said Idaho State coach Jon Newlee, whose team’s season ended with a 20-9 mark. Iowa State improved to 16-14 and a 7 p.m. Friday game at Hilton against Miami (Ohio), which went on the road and defeated Xavier 77-65 Wednesday.

Whatever defensive switches either team made, it was the Cyclones who found more success on their home court. Anne O’Neil, still recovering from an injured foot, led a balanced ISU attack with 16 points. Freshman Megan Ronhovde had 11 points in the first half and finished with 14, including four 3-pointers on six attempts.

“It’s felt the best it had in like six weeks,” O’Neil said of the foot that’s kept her out of multiple practices in the last two weeks. “I was just excited to be able to be out there and play again.”

After missing out on any postseason last year, and with Erica Junod the only senior on this year’s squad, the Cyclones said they had no reason not to want a deep WNIT run.

“To end on a good streak and a high note is something we definitely want to do,” O’Neil said.

The Cyclones opened up a 23-12 lead midway through the first half and coasted, never letting Idaho State closer than six points the rest of the way. Iowa State had balanced scoring in that opening run and throughout the game. Lisa Kriener got her first start in four games and hit 5 of 7 shots in the first half, helping propel the Cyclones to a 45-35 edge at the break.

“At this time of year, the aesthetics are really overrated,” Fennelly said. “Forget your turnovers, forget your mistakes, come back to practice tomorrow.”

Newlee said he wasn’t surprised by the loss after he looked at the box score.

“I figured we’d have to shoot maybe middle 40s to win this game,” he said. The Bengals finished at 35.4 percent.

Freshman Molly Hays led the Bengals with 17 points and nine rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. Iowa State outrebounded Idaho State 36-34 but gave up a 15-9 deficit on the offensive glass.

Fennelly said Miami (Ohio), of the Mid-American Conference, was a tough second-round draw for his team. Fennelly coached Toledo, a Mid-American Conference team, to a 166-53 mark in seven years before coming to Iowa State.

“I coached in the MAC for seven years, and we used to beat up on the Iowa States of the world,” he said. “These are the games that those schools live for.”

The RedHawks are 22-8 on the season.

Tickets for Friday’s game are $7. They will go on sale at www.cyclones.com Thursday morning and be available for walk-up or phone orders at noon Thursday at the Jacobson Building athletic ticket office. The ticket office phone number is 1-888-ISU-CYCLONE. No pre-order tickets were sold for Friday’s game, so all fans need to buy new tickets.

Iowa State 72, Idaho State 59

at Ames

Idaho State (59) – Barron 2-9 1-2 5, Brossman 3-7 2-4 8, Hays 7-18 1-2 17, Anderson 2-6 1-2 5, Whitley 2-6 0-0 5, Udy 1-3 0-0 2, Marekova 3-8 0-0 9, Gifford 1-3 0-0 2, Christensen 1-2 2-2 4, Massey 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 23-65 7-12.

Iowa State (72) – Junod 2-6 0-0 6, Medders 3-6 0-0 7, Robinette 2-7 1-2 5, Ronhovde 5-8 0-0 14, Kriener 7-10 0-0 14, Fox 2-7 0-0 4, O’Neil 6-10 2-2 16, Paustian 1-2 0-0 2, Wilkins 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 30-58 3-4.

Halftime – Iowa State 45, Idaho State 35. Three-point goals – Idaho State 6-28 (Barron 0-5, Brossman 0-1, Hays 2-7, Anderson 0-3, Whitley 1-2, Udy 0-2, Marekova 3-6, Christensen 0-1, Massey 0-1), Iowa State 9-22 (Junod 2-6, Medders 1-1, Robinette 0-1, Ronhovde 4-6, Kriener 0-1, Fox 0-4, O’Neil 2-3). Rebounds – Idaho State 34 (Hays 9), Iowa State 36 (Kriener 8). Assists – Idaho State 12 (four with 2), Iowa State 19 (four with 3). Turnovers – Idaho State 10, Iowa State 14. Fouls – Idaho State 5, Iowa State 13. A – N/A.