The Iowa State women came out firing and jumped to a 24-9 lead to down the No. 22 Nebraska Huskers 83-69 in front of a record crowd of 6,120.

Five different Cyclones scored in double figures led by freshmen Megan Taylor and Erica Haugen and senior Jayme Olson.

“[Attendance of] 6,120 is amazing support,” Janel Grimm said. “The way things have changed from the time I first got here and now is just fantastic.”

ISU shut down Nebraska’s leading scorer, Anna DeForge, and held the Huskers to just 22 points in the first half and a paltry 27 percent shooting. The 42-22 halftime deficit was Nebraska’s largest of the season.

“I told our kids at halftime we could pack up and go home or we could go back out and work hard to battle back,” Nebraska Coach Paul Sanderford said.

“I was so upset with our offensive execution. Our kids were depending on Anna too much. Iowa State is definitely a top 25 team. They’re as good as any team we’ve played this year, except for maybe Connecticut, and we’ve played some pretty good teams,” he said.

“When you hold a team to just 22 points in a half that’s fantastic, but especially when it is against a team like Nebraska,” Coach Bill Fennelly said. “I was really impressed.”

Sparking the early lead for ISU were Grimm and Haugen. Grimm had 12 of her 16 points in the first half shooting a perfect 6 of 6 from the field and 4 for 4 from the charity stripe.

Haugen had a career day with her 18 points. She nailed four three- pointers, three within two minutes of each other in the first half.

“This was a very important win for our kids,” Fennelly said. “It was the first game all year we played great in the first half. Jayme and Janel really got us going early, and for Megan and Erica to come out here and give us these kinds of performances is really impressive.

“Honestly, the reason Erica didn’t start is because she hadn’t hit a shot in a week, but she can shoot when she gets into a rhythm, and she played with a lot of confidence,” he said.

Nebraska focused on Cyclone standout point guard Stacy Frese, who leads the team in scoring and assists this season and forced the other Cyclones to step up.

“They were pressing me full court and denying me the ball after I gave it up,” said Frese, who finished with 11 points and nine assists. “It just shows that even if they take me out of the game, we can still win.”

ISU never trailed in the contest, while holding as much as a 20-point lead. Nebraska was able to climb within 10 points on several occasions but was never able to break into a single-digit deficit.

“We did a really nice job on defense, and when you stop team on defense, it makes our offense easier,” Olson said. “The key was offensive rebounding, and we did a nice job of keeping our composure. We have to learn from our mistakes if we want to go over there [Lincoln] and win again.”

ISU outrebounded Nebraska 42-38, led by Taylor’s 16. It was a career-high total for her and a season-high for the Cyclones. Nebraska had 20 offensive boards and took more shots in the second half than the Cyclones did in the entire game. The Huskers took 81 shots on the evening.

“Obviously this was a big game, but it’s certainly not the game of the season,” Grimm said. “It was a great team win, knowing everybody can step up and play.”

The Cyclones are now 19-4 overall and 8-2 in the Big 12. They are on top of the Northern Division and just a game behind Texas Tech for the overall conference lead. ISU hosts Colorado at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton.