The ISU women sustained a brutal blow to their Big 12 Conference title hopes Wednesday night as the bruising Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Cyclones and swept the regular season series 79-71.

The loss dropped Iowa State into a tie with the Jayhawks for second place in the conference at 9-3.

It also snapped Iowa State’s regular season home winning streak at 43 games.

“Our kids are as disappointed as I’ve ever seen them,” coach Bill Fennelly said. “But we’ve got a long way to go.”

After enduring three losses to Iowa State last season, the Jayhawks were bent on exacting revenge.

“We spent all of last season having to realize that we didn’t get a win off of Iowa State,” Kansas coach Marion Washington said. “It’s very good to be able to play well enough to win against this outstanding ball club.”

The Jayhawks established control early, swarming the Cyclones with double teams at the point and employing frenetic, full-court pressure.

The result was 14 first-half Cyclone turnovers and 27 for the game.

“Some games the refs let us play, sometimes they don’t,” Kansas forward Lynn Pride said. “Here they let us play a little bit, which kind of changed the flow of the game.”

With the score tied 5-5, the Jayhawks strung together nine straight points, fueled by guard Suzi Raymant’s three-point basket. Kansas maintained a comfortable lead throughout the half and held a 39-31 advantage at the break.

In the first twenty minutes, Iowa State’s three leading scorers — Stacy Frese, Angie Welle and Megan Taylor — were kept in check by the Jayhawks’ tight defense, combining for just eight points.

“At halftime we just wanted to be in the game, so it was great to come in and be a little bit more ahead,” Washington said.

Kansas’ stifling defense intensified in the second half. Following a free throw by Welle, which narrowed the lead to 39-32, the Jayhawks used a 10-0 run to bolt ahead 49-32, matching their largest lead of the game.

With strong body-to-body defense, the Jayhawks squelched the Cyclones every time they seemed poised to mount a charge.

As Iowa State’s turnovers accumulated, Kansas’ fouls began to pile up.

With 7:34 to play, Frese made two free throws to bring the Cyclones within eight, 56-48. A burst of Jayhawk turnovers coupled with key three-pointers by Lindsey Wilson helped narrow the deficit to six, 60-54, and the Hilton crowd of 9,370 screaming voices reached a furious crescendo.

“Down six with four and a half minutes to go, you think you’ve got a chance,” Fennelly said. “But we made two bad decisions, and they got two offensive rebounds. They pretty much punched us out from there.”

Kansas dominated the offensive boards, snatching 19 to the Cyclones’ 10.

“They went after the ball hard,” Fennelly said. “It’s a combination of being out of position, great effort on their part and not a great effort on our part. That adds up.”

Further compounding the Cyclones’ woes were 27 total turnovers, one shy of the team’s season high.

“They made us turn the ball over, and that’s what made the difference in the game,” Fennelly said.

Desir‚e Francis led the Cyclones in scoring with 18 points. Wilson and Tracy Gahan each had 12.

Frese had her second consecutive poor shooting game, converting one of seven field goals.

“We ran two players at her,” Washington said. “It had to be a team focus whenever she had the ball.”

The Jayhawks also fought successfully to keep the Cyclones from establishing a post game, holding Welle to five points.

“They feed off the contact,” Welle said. “When they play physical like that, you get pushed further and further away and end up posting up at the free throw line.”

Brooke Reves — whom the Cyclones held scoreless in Lawrence — topped all scorers with 24 points. Raymant had 20 points, and Pride, the Jayhawks’ leading scorer, added 17 points and five offensive rebounds.

“It’s amazing to play in front of a crowd like this, that’s this intense, and walk out with a win,” Reves said.

Iowa State hosts Missouri on Saturday, and Fennelly stressed that Wednesday’s loss by no means diminishes his team’s high expectations.

“Our goals have not changed,” Fennelly said. “We played hard tonight, and it wasn’t enough.”