ISU women to host Missouri

Jeremy Gustafson

Last season, against the Missouri Tigers, the Cyclones sank a school-record 18 three-pointers.ISU coach Bill Fennelly said he doesn’t expect that to happen again, but if the Cyclones can focus on the three keys Fennelly pointed out for the game, No. 7 Iowa State should be able to pull out their 13th straight home win.Fennelly said point number one would be stopping Missouri’s Amanda Lassiter. “A player like that is always a worry,” Fennelly said.Lassiter is averaging over 20 points per game. She scored 28 in a loss to Colorado Sunday. Number two on Fennelly’s list was to put up solid rebounding numbers against the Tigers. “They’ve been doing a great job rebounding,” he explained. The Tigers are led in rebounding by Evan Unrau with 7.9 boards per game.The third thing Fennelly hopes to withstand in the game is the pressure defense that Missouri will bring with it into Hilton.Freshman guard Erica Junod said she believes that the Cyclones are starting to click as a team and should be able to take the physical defense that is a staple in the Big 12 Conference.”We showed that in the Nebraska game,” Junod said. “We really started to click well.”Against the Huskers Iowa State jumped out to a 52-18 halftime lead and walked on to an 89-46 victory.The team played such balanced basketball that center Angie Welle only played 19 minutes.Welle is the leading scorer and rebounder for Iowa State with 17.6 points per game and 10.1 rebounds.All five Cyclone starters average double-figures in scoring.”We have six people who can really score,” Fennelly said. “And Kelly Cizek is playing really well.”Senior guard Erica Haugen said that the Cyclones still need to work on a couple of things. “[We need] more passing and less dribbling,” Haugen said. “[We need] to pay more attention on defense.”Iowa State will be looking to win their seventh straight victory against Missouri as the Tigers bring their 11-4 overall and 2-2 conference record to Hilton.The Cyclones are off to the team’s best start ever at 13-1 and 4-0 in the Big 12.