At halftime of the women’s basketball game Thursday night, about the only question remaining was whether the cheer squad would run out of “T-4-3” T-shirts to throw into the crowd, as the Cyclones drained nine bombs before intermission.

The long range onslaught staked the Cyclones to a 52-25 lead over the Minnesota Golden Gophers by halftime. ISU continued its fine play and won with the final score of 86-69.

After returning from a warm trip to Hawaii, Iowa State decided to light a fire on the Hilton hardwood.

Point guard Stacy Frese lit the flame and the net in the first half en route to 15 points. Amazingly, with just less than 10 minutes left in the half, Frese single-handedly led the Gophers 12-10. At that point, ISU led 25-10 and was well on the way to victory.

The fire spread to freshman Megan Taylor, whose blazing start included three treys in the first half. By the time the buzzer sounded, she had set a career-high in points with 13 and dragged down a team-high six rebounds.

The Cyclones shot 61 percent from the floor in the half on 19-31 shooting. The Cyclones were 9 of 15 from three-point range.

ISU’s defense also looked fresh in holding Minnesota to 30 percent shooting.

With the nine early threes, it looked as though ISU’s all-time record of 13 three-pointers in a game, set earlier this season, would fall. However, the record held as all of ISU’s second half long-range jumpers rimmed out.

ISU gained the lead only nine seconds into the game, a lead the team would not relinquish. The 27-point halftime lead was the Cyclones’ biggest in the first stanza after consecutive threes made by Olson and Frese in the final minute.

The first 20 minutes featured an up-tempo style, which brought the crowd of 904 to its feet several times.

Coach Bill Fennelly said the Cyclones played the kind of game he and the fans enjoyed to watch.

“We just seemed to be in a groove,” he said. “I don’t know if we can play a lot better, which is scary for the seventh game.”

At halftime Fennelly said he stood outside the locker room trying to figure out something he could complain about. He couldn’t find anything, so he told his team “don’t be average.” His team responded by maintaining a lead of more than 20 for most of the game.

The Gophers came out scrappy in the second half and turned the game into a sloppier game for the Cyclones.

After only turning the ball over three times in the first half, the Cyclones committed 14 turnovers in the second half.

However, most of them occurred with floor general Frese sitting beside her fellow starters for the final 10 minutes and the Cyclones leading by a healthy 20-plus point margin.

Frese finished the game with 19 points, leading four Cyclones in double figures. Taylor upped her career game’s total to 16 points, while Olson tossed in 15 and Janel Grimm hooped 12.

All nine Cyclones who saw floor time scored. The team’s balanced scoring was apparent from the beginning. Merely 10 minutes into the game, all ISU starters and one reserve had flashed points on the Hilton scoreboard.

“If we just work as a team, everyone will get their chances,” Frese said.

“We’ve got so many people who can score,” Grimm said. Having five players who can put the ball in the hole takes pressure off everyone, she said.

Grimm said the quick start is something the Cyclones are gunning for all season. “We played really hard at the beginning,” she said.

“Everything was clicking in the first half,” Taylor said.

The freshman, who was Minnesota’s all-time leading scorer as a prep, said the opportunity to play against her home state was special. And the win was even sweeter.

“It could’ve been more of a spread though,” Taylor joked.

The Cyclones’ record now stands at 6-1, while the Gophers have fallen to 1-4.