After having its 26-game home court winning streak snapped

Wednesday

night,

Iowa State wasted no time showing that there is still a little magic

left in

Hilton Coliseum.

“As soon as you lose one you want to try to put a stop to it right

away,”

ISU center Angie Welle said. “We didn’t want to panic after a loss,

but

we

definitely wanted to put a stop [to it] right away.”

The fifth ranked Cyclones ensured they wouldn’t lose two in a row

at

home

by squashing Nebraska 88-54. The game was close at halftime,

then

freshman

Tracy Paustian and a host of other Cyclones shut the door on the

Cornhuskers

with a 25-0 run.

Iowa State led 67-27 until the 8:53 mark when Nebraska’s Alexa

Johnson

hit

a short jumper to stop the Cyclones monstrous run.

“I looked up at the score board and they had 27 points and all of

the

sudden we had 50,” said ISU point guard Lindsey Wilson, who led

the

Cyclones

with 23 points. “Especially in the Big 12 you don’t really expect to

score

25 unanswered points.”

The Huskers were unable to find an answer for Wilson, who

scored 19

points

in the first half, including 3-of-3 shooting from three-point land.

“I thought Lindsey Wilson was tremendous in the first half. She

took

care

of the ball, got it to the right people, shot it well,” Nebraska head

coach

Paul Sanderford said. “I think she’s improved since last year,

especially in

decision making.”

Wilson finished the game 7-of-9 from the field and made all four

of

her

three-point attempts. She dished out a team-high five assists, but

unlike

Wednesday’s 69-63 loss to Kansas State, the entire Cyclone team

got

involved.

Welle, who was battling back spasms, provided 14 points and

guard

Tracy

Gahan contributed eight points and 11 rebounds. Every other

Cyclone

that saw

action tallied points. In the loss to the Wildcats only four ISU

players

scored.

Melanie Bremer netted 10 points, Paustian eight, Kelly Cizek

added six

points on her birthday. Mary Fox also scored six points.

“That was a very important game for our team,” ISU head coach

Bill

Fennelly

said. “I thought we played with a great sense of urgency from the

very

beginning.”

As a team Iowa State knocked down 49 percent of its shots (28-

for-57)

and

hit 11-of-25 three-pointers. They also commanded the boards,

out-rebounding

the Huskers 45 to 33.

An even more encouraging sign for the Cyclones was that they

were able

to

maintain their lead with Welle and Gahan, two of the `Big Three,’

on

the

bench in foul trouble in the first half.

“You never know who’s going to get into foul trouble,” Wilson said.

“To be

okay without two of our main players is wonderful.”

Nebraska failed to attack Iowa State inside when Welle was out of

the

game

and settled for outside shots most. Those shot weren’t falling too

often as

Nebraska finished 22-of-63 (34 percent) for the game.

“We didn’t take advantage [of Welle being out of the game] like we

should

have,” said Stephanie Jones, who led Nebraska with 10 points.

“That was

when

we really should have stepped in and took advantage of that and

drive

it

right down the middle but we didn’t.”

The ISU defense also contested many of the Husker shots and

forced

Nebraska

out of its comfort zone other times.

“The one thing we learned from the Kansas State game,” Wilson

said,

“it

wasn’t because our shots didn’t drop, we didn’t pick it up on

defense.

There’s gonna be nights where we can’t find the basket but

there’s not

an

excuse for not playing good defense.”

Iowa State had three blocks, all by Bremer, and 12 steals in the

game.

Gahan collected four steals while freshman Ada Anderson had

three.

It was the early second half run that really put the game away.

Jones

pulled the Huskers to within 42-27 with a jumper, but consecutive

three-pointers by Wilson, Gahan, Paustian and Gahan again put

the

Cyclones

well ahead.

During the Cyclones streak, Nebraska missed 12 straight shots.

“I think overall today our defense was so much better, I think that

was the

key,” Paustian said. “I think that led to getting our offense started.”

Paustian had eight points during the run, which put Iowa State up

40

points

with under 10 minutes to play. Gahan had six during the streak

and

Wilson

scored four.

“We came out and they wanted to bury us,” Jones said. “We didn’t

respond to

that. That was when we really needed to come together and we

didn’t.”

The Cyclones improved to 13-1 overall, 1-1 in the Big 12 while

Nebraska

dropped to 10-5, 0-2 in the Big 12.

“I’m embarrassed for the University of Nebraska,” Sanderford

said. “I

really felt like we could compete with this basketball team today

but

we

just didn’t get it done.”

Next up for Iowa State is No. 21 Texas. The Longhorns have a 9-2

record and

are 1-0 in the conference. The Cyclones will travel to Austin, Texas

for a

7p.m. game on Wednesday.