The Cyclones didn’t need to spell their opponents’ names in order to beat them handily Thursday night at Hilton Coliseum.

The Iowa State women’s basketball team showed vast improvement in their second and final exhibition game, defeating the Norrkoping Proderm Flamingos by a final tally of 79-58.

“Overall, I thought we played pretty solid,” head coach Bill Fennelly said after the game. “In particular, our guard play was very good.”

As always, standout senior Stacy Frese led that guard play, scoring 21 points and dishing half a dozen assists. And then the halftime buzzer sounded.

Frese saw limited second half action, but her early outburst propelled the Cyclones to a 19-point halftime cushion in a game in which they never trailed.

True to form, Megan Taylor and Erica Haugen each added 16 points and Taylor led all players with nine rebounds.

Haugen also added a pair of assists and managed a steal.

“Erica Haugen has performed in practice better than maybe anyone on this team,” Fennelly said. “You have to give her a hell of a lot of credit and it was great to see our fans salute her the way they did.”

The Cyclones maintained their vaunted aerial assault, converting 12 of 28 three-point attemps, including 8 of 15 in the first half.

Frese led the charge with five treys, but Haugen wasn’t far behind with four of her own.

Senior Deiree Francis made her 1999 debut against the Flamingos after nursing an injury in the first exhibition contest.

The flashy sixth man managed nine points and five rebounds despite just 15 minutes of playing time.

“Des was fine,” Fennelly said. “She’s always doing something in there, and I thought she was pretty solid. Obviously, she’s an important part of the puzzle for us.”

The most glaring weakness for the Cyclones was an inconsistent inside game.

Sophomore Angie Welle and junior Gintare Cipinyte both struggled at the post, converting just two of eight shots and committing seven total turnovers.

“They were physical with us,” Welle said, “but we just need to be stronger with the ball inside.”

“Our post play will have to improve, but I think we have the players that can do it,” Fennelly said. “It concerns me, but I won’t hit the panic button just yet.”

Defensively, the Cyclones experimented at times with a full-court press, but didn’t return to the man-to-man look they tried for the first time last week.

ISU held Swedish standout Katja Lefwerth in check, but Johanna Axelsson picked up the slack for the Flamingos, scoring a game-high 22 points.

“We’re not rotating as well as we need to on defense,” Haugen said. “We’re doing some things well, some things not so well, and we have a lot of work to do.”

The only truly bad news to come out of Thursday’s game was the announcement that guard Erica Junod may be unavailable for some time.

The talented freshman was diagnosed with mono on Thursday and will be re-examined next week.

From the standpoint of ISU players and coaches, one of the game’s biggest highlights wasn’t to be found on the floor, but in the seats.

After outdrawing the men in their first exhibition, the Cyclone women again brought a sizeable following of well over 5,500 fans.

“Our fans are absolutely unbelievable,” Fennelly said. “They like this team and I’m very grateful to them.”

“Last year, we were amazed to see people in the balcony for the first time,” Frese said. “Now, they’re all here for an exhibition game.

“People like to watch a team that wins,” she continued. “So we’ll just have to keep winning.”