It wasn’t pretty, but then again, that should have been expected given the Cyclones’ past few games.

The No. 13 ISU women’s basketball team used a strong second half run to overcome a sluggish first half and send Kansas home with a loss, 77-59 Saturday.

But that type of game plan isn’t going to hold up anymore, especially when No. 9 Baylor comes to Ames Wednesday.

“We’re gonna have to play maybe better than we’re capable of playing on Wednesday, to be quite honest with you,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “[Baylor’s] a team that may be playing as well as any team in our league.”

Certainly Iowa State will have to play a better game than they did against the Jayhawks. The Cyclones waited to pull away from Kansas, after struggling in the first half – a half that saw 13 turnovers and eight of 23 shooting (34.8 percent), resulting in a slim 29-28 lead at the half.

“We just started off slow once again,” said ISU center Angie Welle, who tallied 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cyclones. “Turnovers hurt us in the first half. We had 13 at halftime, and when you have that many in a half and that’s our goal for the game, I think it’s going to be pretty ugly.”

Turnovers have been a major problem lately. The Cyclones have a total of 60 turnovers in their last three games. To go along with Saturday’s 20, Iowa State has turned the ball over 21 times in a 62-52 win over Missouri and 19 times in a 64-63 loss at Oklahoma State.

“[We were] careless with the ball,” Fennelly said.

Iowa State played much better the second half. Limiting themselves to only seven turnovers and shot 53.3 percent (16 of 30) from the field, the Cyclones outscored the Jayhawks 48-31.

The win put Iowa State at 9-6 in the Big 12 Conference (21-6 overall.) Kansas fell to 0-15 (5-23 overall) and with one game left is in danger of becoming the first team to go winless in the conference. But the competition will be a bit stiffer Wednesday.

Fennelly said the Lady Bears (11-4, 23-4) have two possible first-round draft picks for the WNBA. Sheila Lambert, who joins Welle as a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year award, averages 20.2 points per game. Danielle Crockrom provides a dangerous one-two punch with Lambert. She goes for 17.5 points and 9.4 rebounds a game.

Iowa State has conference standings to worry about, too. The Cyclones sit sixth in the conference now. With an ISU win and a loss by either 10-5 Colorado or 10-5 Kansas State, Iowa State could move into fourth in the conference.

The Buffaloes play at Nebraska (4-11) while the Wildcats host Missouri (5-10).

If both Colorado and Kansas State win, the Cyclones will be playing for fifth place. Texas owns that position with an 8-6 record, but owns the tie-break with Iowa State, having beaten the Cyclones in Austin, Texas 66-65 on Jan. 9.

If Texas loses at Kansas and Iowa State beats Baylor, the Cyclones will finish fifth in the conference and play Kansas in the first round of the conference tournament.

If Iowa State loses and Texas Tech (8-7) wins at Oklahoma, the Cyclones could slip to seventh in the tournament. But winning Wednesday will be a tough enough task.

“We’re going to have to find another gear [to win],” Fennelly said. “Hopefully we can find it.”

The game starts at 7 p.m.

boxscore

No. 13 IOWA STATE 77, KANSAS 59

KANSAS (5-23)

Waltz 8-17 0-0 19, Hilgenkamp 2-6 0-0 5, White 3-9 5-7 11, Menguc 0-1 0-0 0, Scott 2-5 0-0 4, Spencer 2-5 0-0 4, Geoffroy 4-6 0-0 8, Hannon 2-8 0-0 6, Beachem 0-0 0-0 0, Migicovsky 1-1 0-0 2, McGinest 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 24-60 5-9 59.

IOWA STATE (21-6)

Gahan 4-9 0-0 11, Cofield 3-5 2-2 11, Welle 6-12 9-10 21, Wilson 5-14 4-5 16, Paustian 0-3 2-2 2, Junod 2-3 0-0 5, Fox 1-4 0-0 3, Cizek 0-0 0-0 0, Bremer 3-3 2-2 8. Totals 24-53 19-21 77.

Halftime-Iowa State 29, Kansas 28. 3-Point goals-Kansas 6-13 (Waltz 3-5, Hannon 2-3, Hilgenkamp 1-3, Menguc 0-1, Scott 0-1), Iowa State 10-24 (Cofield 3-3, Gahan 3-6, Wilson 2-7, Junod 1-2, Fox 1-3, Paustian 0-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Kansas 35 (Waltz 8), Iowa State 33 (Welle 8). Assists-Kansas 17 (Hilgenkamp 6), Iowa State 19 (Wilson 8). Total fouls-Kansas 21, Iowa State 13. A-12,850.