ISU women rout No. 17 Texas Tech to end five-game Big 12 skid

AMES - Late Friday night, Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly switched off his office lights and headed home.

Then he heard it: Bounce, bounce, swish.

“Hallie (Christofferson) was still in the gym,” Fennelly said. “You work at it, some good things happen.”

They certainly did Sunday, as Christofferson struck for a career-high five 3-pointers and the Cyclones banished their five-game Big 12 Conference losing streak in a cathartic 66-49 rout of No. 17 Texas Tech at Hilton Coliseum.

ISU (10-7, 1-5) notched its fifth straight home win over the Red Raiders (14-4, 2-4) before a jubilant crowd of 11,911.

“It was on TV, we had the fans,” said Christofferson, who recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. “They set it up for us and we just had to produce it.”

More like direct.

The Cyclones led the entire game after trailing 5-4 with 16:55 left in the first half.

They hit a conference game-high nine 3-pointers, managed more assists than turnovers for the first time in Big 12 play and held Texas Tech to 22.6 percent shooting in the second half.

“We just got outworked,” Red Raiders coach Kristy Curry said. “There's no tip-toeing around it.”

Still, Tech trailed by just three points, at 26-23, with 1:55 left in the first half.

ISU appeared headed to the break on a nearly four and a half minute scoreless streak until Chassidy Cole drained a 3-pointer from the corner that beat the shot clock, then the game clock buzzer.

“I just knew I had to shoot it,” said Cole, who matched a career-high with two long-range baskets. “Had to shoot it, made it.”

Momentum rose as doubts diminished.

“It was so big,” Christofferson said. “Everybody just running over each other trying to get to the locker room. And when we got there, it didn't stop. It definitely carried momentum over to the second half.”

On defense, anyway.

The Cyclones held Tech to three points in the first eight minutes of the second half, then - after they went scoreless again for nearly four and a half minutes- pounced with the game's decisive run.

Chelsea Poppens ignited the 12-0 spurt on a putback basket with 15:36 left.

Mansfield stoked the surge with a pair of 3-pointers, Nikki Moody added a pull-up jumper and Anna Prins sank two free throws.

“It's really cool,” Mansfield said of getting scoring from a broad range of players. “I think it gets everyone together and we play better.”

Poppens achieved her eighth double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

Moody had nine points and seven assists.

Red Raiders leading scorer Kierra Mallard missed all nine of her field goal tries and failed to score.

“Last year she killed us,” Fennelly said. “Holding her down early was important.”

Christofferson shined early, scoring eight of the Cyclones' first 16 points off the bench.

She's now scored 32 points in the past two games - after totaling 14 in the previous five.

“It just felt good,” she said. “We were having fun. We were smiling out there.”

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