Iowa State blasts Texas Tech behind dominant first half

AMES - For the first time in quite awhile, Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly saw real smiles from his team.

After what the Cyclones did to Texas Tech in the first 20 minutes of the game, those smiles were plastered on the faces of his players long after the game ended.

'Being in sync like that makes the game fun,” said senior Kidd Blaskowsky. 'When everyone is in sync the way we were and making shots, you could just tell everyone was having fun out there.”

Iowa State beat Texas Tech 77-48 to snap a three-game losing streak, but did all of the work to make that happen in the first half.

After falling behind 8-2 and starting 1-for-6 from the field, the Cyclones (13-12, 5-9) found their rhythm on both ends of the floor. Iowa State went on a 29-0 run, holding the Lady Raiders (11-14, 2-12) scoreless for 9:40, but ended the half on a 42-5 stretch.

Texas Tech went 13:13 between field goals while shooting 14.3 percent for the half. Fennelly said the key to the run was using team defense to create good, transition offense.

'I thought we did a decent job of keeping people in front of us,” Fennelly said. 'They took some shots and we talked about when they shoot it, use the rebound as an outlet pass. I thought our big guys really ran the court well, which compacted the defense.”

The 29-point margin of victory is the largest for Iowa State in a Big 12 game since 2011 - the Cyclones beat Kansas 72-36 - but doing it in a season where points have been hard to come by makes it an even bigger confidence boost.

Iowa State got all of its starters in double figures and shot 43.3 percent as a team with freshman Meredith Burkhall putting in 19 points and seven rebounds. Bridget Carleton had 13 points and 12 rebounds while Nicole ‘Kidd' Blaskowsky had 13 points and seven rebounds.

'It just gives us confidence knowing we can make shots,” Burkhall said. 'We've been in a slump the last few games with not being able to hit a shot so when we were on that run and everybody was hitting it felt good. We just have to continue that momentum for the next game.”

The win also served as Iowa State's 'Pink Game,” but it carried a little more weight for one player. Lexi Albrecht lost her sister, Melissa Grossman, to cancer on Dec. 27 and was able to get in for nine minutes in the fourth quarter and connected on a 3-pointer with roughly three minutes to go that brought the Hilton Coliseum crowd to its feet.

'Basketball is just a game, but what she's been through and the circumstances she's been, for her to continue to play basketball and stay motivated and positive and leave an impact on us; when she hit that shot I looked back at her sister and her mom,” Blaskowsky said. 'Seeing that and just those three points that she made, that's what we live for.”

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