On a night when the Hilton crowd was given three-point banners, it was the Iowa State inside game that paved the way for a 76-42 mauling of the Oklahoma State Cowgirls.

“After about the first five minutes, I thought our kids were very focused on what we asked them to do and really played well,” coach Bill Fennelly said.

Angie Welle led the Cyclones in the paint with 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Cyclones held an impossible 59-37 advantage on the boards. The 59 rebounds were a Hilton Coliseum record and the second highest total in school history.

“We were definitely taller than them and that’s an advantage,” Welle said, “and we seemed to just get in better position than they did.”

Fans didn’t have to put away their banners, though, with Stacy Frese in attendance.

The junior connected on 5 of 11 shots from beyond the arc, including three of her first four, and finished the contest with a game-high 18 points. She also had six assists to go with just a pair of turnovers.

In fact, Frese and Welle were the Cyclone offense for most of the first half, splitting the team’s first 20 points.

ISU jumped out to a quick 12-3 lead, but the Cowgirls clawed back to within three by the six-minute mark only to be outscored 12-2 down the stretch.

“At halftime, I felt like we could still make a game out of it,” OSU coach Dick Halterman said. “I just felt like we’d shoot the ball better than we did.”

Unfortunately for OSU, the 33-20 halftime tally was the closest the score would be over the last 20 minutes.

“We got a pretty good pep talk about playing as a team in the second half,” Erica Haugen said, “and I think we did a lot better job.”

“We get a lot of those,” Frese pointed out with a grin.

After their pep talk, the Cyclones were running on all cylinders for the second half, scoring the first eight points and 18 of the first 20.

The Cyclone defense was again stifling, forcing a paltry .219 opponent shooting average.

“We can’t score any points,” Halterman said. “When you shoot 21 percent and get dominated on the boards like we did, you’re not going to beat anybody.”

In addition, the Cowgirls’ biggest scoring threat, shooting guard Jennifer Crow, was held scoreless until the 8:27 mark of the second half, despite averaging 17.3 points per game.

Crow needed just seven points to hit the 1,000 point mark for her career and reached the milestone on a trey with 2:46 remaining.

“She let the box-and-one and her defender [Haugen] bother her more than she should have,” Halterman said. “I think she stopped working in there.

“It was great for her to get the 1,000 points, but I don’t think it’s a night Jennifer’s going to remember.”

Megan Taylor, after going scoreless in the first half due to foul trouble, came out strong in the second frame, hitting 4 of her 11 shots and finishing the game with 11 points.

Taylor also joined teammate Monica Huelman to lead all players with 12 rebounds apiece, four more than any Cowgirl.

In addition to attacking the boards, Huelman, sporting pigtails and playing on her father’s 52nd birthday, turned in nine points and dished a pair of assists.

“I’m really happy for Mo,” Fennelly said. “She works very hard and she really came out and played well tonight and it couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”

Haugen and Tracy Gahan were also solid at their guard positions. Gahan finished the game with five points, four assists and a steal and Haugen tallied six points, five assists and a steal.

Before the final buzzer, all 10 Cyclones were on the scoreboard as ISU posted its widest Big 12 margin of victory this year as well as its biggest rebounding margin.

After their consecutive losses to Texas Tech and Clemson, the Cyclones have returned with a vengeance, pounding their last three opponents by a combined 81 points.

“After you lose a couple, you have to regroup,” Huelman said. “I think we’ve pulled it together and we’re standing in a really good position now in the Big 12.”

The 34-point margin last night marked the first time in school history the Cyclones have defeated the Cowgirls by more than 13 points.

“To think about what this team’s been through with injuries and youth,” Fennelly said, “to be 8-1 and tied for first place in the second-toughest league in the country — we should be very happy.”