The ISU women’s basketball team evened up their Big 12 record with a home win over the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, 72-70.

Despite leading 39-29 at halftime, the Cyclones had to overcome poor shooting in the second half and a lopsided rebounding edge for Kansas to regain the lead and hold on for the win.

Senior Lindsey Wilson took the game over in the final minutes. With the score tied at 70, she drove to the lane with less than 10 seconds left and was fouled. She hit two huge free throws with two seconds left to give the Cyclones the advantage and bring her point total to a game-high 16 points.

“It’s a smart move on our part when she can do it,” head coach Bill Fennelly said about the last play of the game. “Part of it is she wants to, part of it is I think the other kids wanted her to.”

Midway through the second half, Kansas came back to tie the game at 52 and try to make a move. Stacey Becker came off the bench for Kansas to nail four baskets from downtown.

“We had to make some defensive adjustments that took people away from the basket,” Fennelly said.

The Jayhawks held Iowa State under 40 percent shooting in the second half and won the rebounding battle 43-24. The Jayhawks were led by Aquanita Burras who had 14 points and seven rebounds. Blair Waltz added 12 points.

“They changed defenses and I think what happens is, we’re the kind of team that when we make shots we’re pretty good and we missed a lot of shots,” Fennelly said.

“I can’t remember the last time we got kicked around like that on the backboards.”

Iowa State forced 20 turnovers as the team racked up 13 steals, led by Erica Junod’s three. Mary Cofield provided a shooting spark making four of seven three-point attempts en route to 16 points.

“When was the last time we had 13 steals in a game?” Fennelly said. “I think our perimeter defense made up for our lack of ability to rebound.”

Despite the usual size disadvantage that Iowa State has dealt with all year, center Lisa Kriener managed to score 13 points and pull in six boards. Anne O’Neil also made an impact with 12 points including two of five from downtown.

“We won because we made just enough three-point shots,” Fennelly said.

“I think we won because we did not turn the ball over and didn’t give them baskets in the open court.”

The Cyclones (6-7, 1-1 Big 12) were coming off a one-point loss at No. 23 Colorado, making that five games they have lost by eight or fewer points this season.

“I’m happy for them because they’ve struggled,” Fennelly said. “The pressure at Iowa State, we’ve lost some games, losing some close games, we’ve played hard. I think 90 percent of the season we’ve played hard and we just haven’t gotten the breaks to win but they did today.”

Iowa State will continue their conference play with a trip to Kansas State on Wednesday, and will be back at Hilton Sunday to host Missouri.

“I think they will start school Monday with a smile on their face,” Fennelly said of his players. “Which is good because they have done everything we’ve asked them to do and when you do that all the time and you don’t win you start to get a little frustrated, everybody does. It’s nice to see them get rewarded.”