It seemed like it was just one of those days.

Freshman center Bryanna Fernstrom won the tipoff for the ISU women’s basketball team and the Cyclones headed down the court with the intention of putting a hugely overmatched Arkansas-Pine Bluff out of the contest early, but things didn’t go according to plan.

ISU forward Brynn Williamson committed a foul to turn the ball over, then on their next two possessions, the Cyclones missed two three-pointers and then they turned the ball over again. The shots just weren’t falling for Iowa State and that theme culminated in a possession that featured three missed ISU shots.

At the under-12-minute media timeout, the Cyclones trailed the Golden Lions by three on their own court, where ISU coach Bill Fennelly has only lost three regular season non-conference games in over 19 seasons.

Having made just 1-of-12 shot attempts and misfiring on all six three pointers, Iowa State found itself with just seven points after more than eight minutes of play.

“I think the first eight minutes…our movement wasn’t very good, but when it comes to basketball, if the ball’s not going in the basket, you’re going to struggle,” Fennelly said. “When you’re 1-for-12, everyone’s miserable… we just could not get the ball in the basket.”

Finally, ISU guard Nikki Moody knocked down a triple to get the proverbial lid off the basket, which opened up an opportunity for Nicole “Kidd” Blaskowsky, who had just made her fifth start of her ISU career.

Blaskowsky, who made the start in place of the injured Jadda Buckley, started to find her stroke from long range. Blaskowsky hit her first three attempts from distance, knocked down a pair of free throws and just like that, the ISU guard who hadn’t registered a start all season was leading all scorers in halftime.

Though she plays with a lot of energy and fire, Blaskowsky said she really was just trying to do her job.

“It’s just motivating to come in and play the role that I need to play,” Blaskowsky said. “Having Jadda out, that’s a big factor of our team, so I just wanted to benefit the team anywhere I could—get some rebounds and make some shots.”

Though they had to fight through a tough opening stretch, the Cyclones had found their rhythm.

“You give credit to our girls, we kind of just never stopped playing,” Williamson said. “Things might get slow sometimes and you look in the crowd and see some of the fans a little bit bored, but our girls didn’t stop playing.”

Blaskowsky went on to finish the game with a season-high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point land to help lead the Cyclones to an 82-56 victory. Though her sharpshooting certainly seemed like an outburst, Fennelly said her personality is just as fiery.

“What you expect out of Kidd is she’s always energized,” Fennelly said. “She’s one of the few players on our team that talks a lot and shows her emotion and plays the game, I think, like it should be played.”

With a week off before hosting Fairfield on Dec. 21, Fennelly knows he’ll have his hands full with keeping players focused as they look forward to heading home for the holidays. This stretch of the year is never easy, but if the last 30 minutes of play are any indication, the Cyclones are in good shape down the homestretch of non-conference play.

“At the end of the day, it’s a game we should win,” Fennelly said. “After the first ten minutes, we played the way we needed to play. Glad to get it over with, now it’s on to finals. Hopefully we can blow up one more time next Sunday.”