Iowa State remained perfect on the season with an 85-59 victory over Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night.

The game was played on a neutral court in Bridget Carleton’s hometown of Chatham, Ontario, Canada, located roughly 1.5 hours form Eastern Michigan’s campus in Ypsilanti. In her homecoming, Carleton gave a strong showing in front of dozens of family members and friends with a near double-double on the night.

As a whole, the game was a relatively close affair for much of the first half. The Eagles trailed most of the way through, but were able to stay within striking distance of the Cyclones, only trailing by eight going into halftime. 

However, Iowa State exploded in the third quarter with 33 points to bust the game wide open. What was a 37-29 game at halftime turned ugly quick as the Cyclones led 70-43 after the third stanza. From there, the Cyclones essentially emptied the bench and cruised to a blowout victory.

Building off a great defensive performance against then No. 24 Miami, the Cyclones were once again stout on that end of the floor, holding EMU to a 31.4 percent shooting percentage form the floor and 25.9 percent shooting percentage from three. Iowa State also forced 17 Eagles turnovers, but were actually quite sloppy themselves with 22 turnovers of their own.

Outside of the turnovers, Iowa State did play quite well offensively. The team shot 50 percent form the field and 44 percent from three. In perhaps the biggest sign of improvement, the Cyclones shot a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line, which has been an area of struggle through four games this season.

Leading the way statistically for Iowa State’s was Carleton, who scored 17 points and had nine rebounds on the evening. Senior guard Alexa Middleton was also incredibly efficient from the field, scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. 

However, perhaps the best performances of the night for the Cyclones came from the bench. Junior Adriana Camber broke out with a season-high 15 points, all of which came form beyond the arc, where she shot 5-for-7 on the night. Sophomore forward Kristin Scott also had a big night, earning a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds on 5-for-8 shooting.

Next up for the Cyclones will be a week of rest before a game next Wednesday against South Dakota. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. from Vermillion, South Dakota.