To say it was a slow start for the ISU women’s basketball team would be an understatement.

In fact, the first four minutes of play against West Virginia on Feb. 7 brought a combined 1-of-12 shooting from the field for both teams.

But after a big second-half run and a strong defensive showing, Iowa State (15-7, 6-5 Big 12) was finally able to break a three-game losing skid, earning a convincing 61-43 win against West Virginia (14-9, 4-7 Big 12).

“We needed this win really bad,” said senior guard Brynn Williamson. “Coach really said in the locker room that this didn’t save our season, but it gave us a little bit of breathing room. It’s nice to know that we’re kind of getting back on track and we’re able to score and guard people the right way.”

It took the Cyclones a little more than four minutes to get on the scoreboard to start the game, but the offensive woes didn’t stop there. Both Iowa State and West Virginia would go minutes at a time without getting a bucket to fall early on, making for a pretty slow first half.

One Cyclone was able to pull the team out of its first-half funk, however. Senior Fallon Ellis strung together a run at the end of the half, coming up with five straight points heading into the break.

“I always see my role as helping my other teammates out, helping them score,” Ellis said. “I think tonight was a night that I kind of did both. Going into this game, I didn’t expect to score a lot, but I did. I went out there and did what I was supposed to do, and I think that’s kind of what we needed.”

Ellis’ run was not short-lived, either. The Cyclones opened up the second half on a 17-3 run, holding the Mountaineers scoreless for the first seven minutes of the half.

When the team was in the locker room, head coach Bill Fennelly had a simple message for the team, and Williamson took it to heart.

“They just wanted to see someone flat out make a shot,” Williamson said. “We talk about it all the time that we don’t need a bunch of shooters on our team, we need a lot of makers. Some nights the ball doesn’t fall, but for me, I look at it if my shot is not falling, there are other things I can do to help my team. Tonight, that was defense.”

In the days prior to the game, one of the main focal points for the team was its defense. Fennelly had seen that as an area of struggle in the past, even crediting some of the team’s recent losses to poor defense.

He saw a big change, however, during the game against West Virginia.

“Whatever game plan you have, when it goes sort of right, you look pretty good,” Fennelly said. “I thought defensively, especially the first five, six minutes of the second half we were really good. We made them do things that we felt we needed to make them do.”

Now with another win under their belt, the Cyclones are sitting in third place in the Big 12 Conference. With only a month left in the season, Fennelly knows how important a win like this one can be, especially with the conference race being so close.

“It doesn’t save your season, but it probably got us off life-support for a couple days,” Fennelly said. “When you’re the team that doesn’t lose, somebody gets another loss. In our league, that’s a big deal, because we’re all playing each other. No matter who you beat, you gain on someone, and we did that tonight.”