The Bill Fennelly era is off to an undefeated start with a pair of victories at the Cyclone Classic over the weekend.

The Iowa State women’s basketball team used a barrage of three-point baskets to shoot down Idaho State on Friday and Arizona State on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.

“This team needs confidence,” Head Coach Bill Fennelly said. “[The two victories] bring the enthusiasm level of this program up a little bit.”

The Cyclones put Arizona State away early in the championship game with a 23 point run that put them ahead 24-4 with 11 minutes to go in the half.

The streak was sparked by a two foot put-back by junior guard Kim Martin, after following up two of her missed shots. The run included five three-pointers, two each by sophomore guard Tara Gunderson and junior forward Julie Hand and one by Martin. ISU finished with nine three-point goals for the game, a team record they broke after making eight against Idaho State on Friday.

“Arizona State played a trapping zone, and when you rotate the ball against a defense like that, you are going to get an open shot,” Fennelly said. “Their defense was the reason we shot the ball the way we did.”

The Cyclones let Arizona State creep back into the game before halftime, taking a 37-26 advantage into the locker room. ISU’s defense created many transition opportunities for the offense by coming up with eight steals in the first half.

Hand came up with a steal with 5:23 to go in the first half and passed the ball to a wide open sophomore center Jayme Olson for a breakaway lay-up to put the Cyclones up, 32-16. That would be ISU’s largest lead of the game, as spurts of poor shooting prevented the team from truly blowing Arizona State away.

“Sometimes we would make mistakes and let Arizona State back into the game, but we were always conscious of the score,” Martin said.

“We were never in a program where we had to deal with big leads,” sophomore forward Janel Grimm added.

ISU dominated the second half of the game, even though they were outscored 35-32.

Gunderson started the half with a three-pointer from the left arc that increased ISU’s advantage to 40-26. The Sun Devils reeled off four straight points before Hand picked off an errant pass and sailed all alone for an uncontested lay-up to put the Cyclones ahead, 42-30.

The Cyclone lead remained secure until Arizona State scored six straight points to pull within eight points with less than a minute to go in the game. From there the Cyclones did a good job of keeping their poise and not fouling the Sun Devils, taking the championship by a score of 68-61.

The championship game featured balanced scoring by the Cyclones, with four players scoring in double figures. Grimm was ISU’s leading scorer with 16 points.

“If someone would have told me before the game that we would win with Jayme Olson [ISU’s leading returning scorer] only scoring six points, I would have asked them what they were drinking,” Fennelly said.

Grimm was named MVP for the tournament after scoring 27 and 16 points against Idaho State and Arizona State. Olson, Gunderson and Hand were also named to the All-Tournament Team.