It took a while, but No. 5 Iowa State finally ran away from Iowa Wednesday night.

Led by point guard Lindsey Wilson’s career-high 29 points and Angie Welle’s 24 points and 17 rebounds, the Cyclones dropped their intrastate rival, 82-64, in front of a packed Hilton Coliseum crowd of 12,579.

“The final score is not indicative of how close the game was,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said.

The Hawkeyes gave Iowa State all it could handle and more for the first 15 minutes of the game. Sophomore guard Kristi Faulkner sparked Iowa early, scoring 11 points and helping Iowa take a 26-19 lead with 5:24 remaining in the first half.

Led by Wilson, the Cyclones battled back and ended the half on a 12-2 run and took a 31-28 lead into the locker room.

“You always want to take a little boost of energy into the locker room with you,” ISU forward Tracy Gahan said.

Wilson keyed the run, hitting a three-pointer to pull the Cyclones to within four. She later tied the game with a two assisted by freshman Lisa Kriener.

A Gahan three-pointer gave Iowa State its first lead in 11 minutes.

“Luckily we were able to get some shots to fall,” Gahan said. “We cut down on our turnovers.”

The Cyclones were frustrated early by Iowa’s defense, which forced Iowa State to turn the ball over 10 times in the first half.

“Iowa’s defense was really good in the first half,” Fennelly said. “They took us out of a lot of things. They really bellied up to us and were very aggressive on the ball. Early in the game, it was either turnover, or we scored.”

In the second half, it was all Wilson, Welle and Gahan for the Cyclones; then again, that is to be expected.

“That’s the nature of our team right now,” Fennelly said. “We’ve got three people that can score, and we’re hoping the rest of them might make one once in a while.”

Wilson scored 18 of her points in the second half and Welle added 14. It was Gahan who came out shooting to give the Cyclones a nice cushion.

Iowa took a 32-31 lead when Jenni Lillis scored two of her 12 points. Gahan responded with a three-pointer and made another trey just over a minute later.

Gahan scored 11 in the second half and finished with 14 points.

“We needed more threats than Lindsey and Angie to get us going,” Gahan said. “I just shot it up there a few more times.”

Wilson put on a show of her own, draining key shots as the shot-clock ran down to keep Iowa State up. Several plays she broke down Faulkner and scored or passed to an open teammate.

“Mentally [Wilson’s] very tough,” Faulkner said. “She takes it to you hard and can hit the outside shot. She’s a complete player.”

Her 29 points marked the second time in three games Wilson has set a career-high in scoring. In a 90-60 win at Drake last week she scored 28.

“Lindsey Wilson is becoming one of the premier point guards in the country,” Fennelly said. “She knows how to give up the ball . she’s so strong off the dribble; she’s made her free throws the last two games.”

Wilson has also played all 40 minutes in her last two games.

The reigning Big 12 Conference co-player of the week also dished out five assists.

Iowa made one last run at Iowa State when Hawkeye point guard Lindsey Meder hit two clutch three-pointers to pull the Hawkeyes to within five, 63-58, with 4:38 to go. Meder finished with 15 points. Jerica Watson led Iowa with 18.

Gahan drained a three of her own to squash any hopes of a Hawkeye rally 30 seconds later.

“There was a minute stretch where we had a couple stupid fouls and let them have a couple open shots,” Wilson said. “We just needed to calm down and score on the next possession . that’s what we did.”

The Cyclones upped their record to a spotless 7-0 and secured their fifth win in a row over the Hawkeyes (6-3).

Next in line to face Iowa State is Niagara, the first-round opponent for the Cyclones in this weekend’s Pella Corporation Cyclone Classic. The game starts Friday at 8 p.m.

boxscore

No. 5 IOWA ST. 82, IOWA 64

IOWA (6-3)

Watson 9-17 0-1 18, Magner 1-9 0-1 3, Lillis 5-11 2-4 12, Faulkner 4-11 1-2 12, Meder 5-15 2-2 15, Armstrong 1-3 0-0 3, Calhoun 0-1 1-2 1, Bullock 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-69 6-12 64.

IOWA ST. (7-0)

Gahan 4-10 2-2 14, Cofield 2-7 0-0 5, Welle 9-12 6-8 24, Wilson 10-18 8-9 29, Paustian 3-7 1-2 8, Cizek 0-1 0-0 0, Kriener 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 29-58 17-21 82.

Halftime-Iowa St. 31, Iowa 28. 3-Point goals-Iowa 8-26 (Faulkner 3-7, Meder 3-8, Armstrong 1-3, Magner 1-7, Calhoun 0-1), Iowa St. 7-19 (Gahan 4-7, Paustian 1-3, Cofield 1-4, Wilson 1-4, Kriener 0-1). Fouled out-Faulkner, Welle. Rebounds-Iowa 36 (Watson 9), Iowa St. 41 (Welle 17). Assists-Iowa 17 (Magner, Lillis 5), Iowa St. 17 (Paustian 6). Total fouls-Iowa 20, Iowa St. 15. A-12,579.