Angie Welle was not going to have another below

average game against Colorado.

Welle’s 24 points and career-high 23 rebounds led

No. 12 Iowa State to an 85-75 victory over No.

13 Colorado Saturday in front of a season-record crowd at Hilton

Coliseum.

While Welle was outstanding, the season debut of another Cyclone

stole

the show.

Erica Junod returned to the Iowa State lineup after

suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament Nov. 5. In front of 13,312,

the

third largest attendance in ISU history, Junod entered the game with

12:28

left in the first half to a standing ovation.

“Obviously, this is a real special day for our team,” ISU head

coach

Bill Fennelly said. “Angie Welle was incredible, but the highlight was

(Junod) coming back.”

Junod played 15 minutes, but did not score. While her contribution

may

not have been evident in the box

score, her return was definitely felt by her teammates.

“I think it was just great having her presence on the court,” Welle

said

of the lift that Junod’s return

brought to the Cyclones. “It’s the emotion that she

brings to the team. The emotional lift she gave us and she gave the

fans.”

Nervousness set in early, but after a few minutes on the hardwood,

Junod

was feeling comfortable.

“There’s tons of stuff I can do a lot better. It’s my first game in

I

don’t know how long. It’s good to get it out of the way,” Junod said.

“I

can’t complain with what happened. It’s just fun to be back out there.”

Iowa State was able to avenge an 86-73 loss to the

Buffaloes on Jan. 23 in Boulder. In that contest, the

Cyclones dug themselves an early hole by committing 15

turnovers and allowing Colorado to shoot 59 percent

from the field in the first half.

In the post, the Buffaloes’ Britt Hartshorn outshined the Cyclones’

All-American Welle. Foul trouble limited Welle to 12 points and five

rebounds, while Hartshorn scored 22 points and grabbed five rebounds.

At Hilton Coliseum, it was a different story. Welle

outdid those numbers in the second half alone, scoring

16 points and collecting 16 rebounds.

Defensively, Welle stepped it up a notch holding Hartshorn to 12

points.

“I thought Angie Welle’s interior defense was the best she has

played

all year,” Fennelly said. “She really committed to work on defense. She

spent a lot of time working on it this week and watching video to try

and

get better.”

Iowa State got off to a good start in the first half and led 37-24

at

halftime. It was a reversal of

fortunes for the Cyclones from what had happened last month in Boulder.

“I think it was almost a reverse of what happened

there. They got up on us quick and it was pretty much

even the rest of the game,” Tracy Gahan said. “This

time, we got up on them quick and pretty much held the

lead the rest of the game with a decent margin.”

The Cyclones’ ‘Big Three’ of Lindsey Wilson, Gahan and Welle,

accounted

for 64 of Iowa State’s 85 points.

Wilson, the Big 12’s leading scorer at 20.1 points per game, led the

way

with 26 points. Gahan added 14 to go with Welle’s 24.

The play of Wilson caught the eye of Colorado head coach Ceal

Barry.

“I thought Wilson played a great game, probably as good a game as I’ve

seen

her play,” Barry said.

Iowa State was able to overcome a staggering 26 turnovers to come

up on

top.

“We just made enough baskets at the right times,” Fennelly said.

“It’s

amazing to score 85 points and have 26 turnovers. Part of that is their

defense, they’re a good defensive team. They pride themselves on that.

The

other part of it is I think we made some bad decisions.”

For the game, the Cyclones held a 45-28 rebounding

advantage and outshot the Buffaloes by shooting 56

percent from both the field (30-53) and the three-point arch (9-16).

Holding Colorado to only 40 percent shooting from the field (31-76)

and

12 percent from three-point range

(2-16) was an important factor in the victory.

The Cyclones harassed the Buffaloes’ starting back court of Jenny

Roulier and Mandy Nightingale, holding them to four of 23 shooting,

with

leading scorer Nightingale only scoring two points, 12 below her

average.Eisha Bohman led the Buffaloes with 19 points and Sabrina Scott

had

16.

Iowa State improves to 19-5 on the season and 7-5 in the Big 12.

Colorado had its eight-game winning

streak snapped and now stands at 18-7 overall and 8-4 in the

conference.

On a five-game winning streak, Iowa State now has a

week to prepare to face Oklahoma State on Feb. 17.

“We’re a different team than we were a month ago. We don’t want to

go

back to where we were. That’s the

motivation for everybody, that was one of the worst

feelings,” Welle said of the Cyclones early conference woes. “I think

that’s

why we’re trying to play so hard, we don’t want to go back to where we

were

a month ago.”