Top-notch defense made the difference as No. 11 Iowa State took down No. 25 Kansas State 70-55 Wednesday night.

Coming into the game, the biggest challenge for the Cyclones was containing Ayoka Lee. The last time these two teams faced off, Lee scored 38 points on the Iowa State post players.

Lee also set the NCAA DI women’s record with 61 points in a win over Oklahoma on Jan. 23. 

During the game Wednesday night, the Cyclones held Lee scoreless in the first quarter, and she would finish with 12 points on 6-16 shooting. Lee averaged 25 points per game coming into the contest.

“We knew from looking back to our past game and other games that she’s had that she’s gonna score,” Morgan Kane said. “We just have to make it really challenging and box out.”

Iowa State often gave space to Kansas State, almost daring the players to shoot at times. And it worked.

The Wildcats finished just 6-24 from three, and one of the most frequent players that was left open, Emilee Ebert, shot just 1-6.

Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie said that this strategy frustrated his team, but at the end of the day his team just needs to make shots. Mittie also thought that the Cyclones just did a good job not allowing Lee as many touches as she normally gets.

“Our offense runs through Lee,” Mittie said. “Lee has been the answer for us, so when we have struggled, we’ve been able to find ways to get it in there.”

Without Lee playing dominant, Mittie said more players needed to step up and it just did not happen.

To go along with the defense that the Cyclones provided in the post, Iowa State also received some scoring from Kane inside.

Kane managed to score nine points on six shots in addition to the defense she was playing on Lee all night.

In a game that Ashley Joens did not have her best scoring night, scoring just 11 points, the rest of the offense made up for it and then some.

Six players finished with more than eight points for the Cyclones compared to just two for Kansas State. Head coach Bill Fennelly mentioned that this type of balance eases the tension on the offense in a big way.

“I’m not the brightest guy in America, but there’s not many games when I’m coaching when we’ve had six or seven people score that many points and you lose. It just doesn’t happen very often,” Fennelly said.

One of the players that Fennelly mentioned when discussing scoring depth is Nyamer Diew. Diew has now finished back-to-back games in double figures including 10 Wednesday night.

Fennelly has been impressed with the way that Diew has played recently and sees her as a big part of what this team can do in the future.

“That’s a big boost for us, she’s long, she’s smart, she talks. That’s a big upgrade at this point in the season and hopefully it continues,” Fennelly said.

The win boosted Iowa State’s overall record to 19-3, with an 8-2 record in Big 12 play.

Next up for Iowa State is another home game against Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Saturday.