Courtesy of Iowa State Athletic Communications AMES, Iowa – The senior-junior duo of Alison Lacey and Kelsey Bolte led the 19th-ranked Iowa State women’s basketball team to a 63-48 win over Texas Tech Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum. It was ISU’s fifth straight win over the Lady Raiders. The Cyclones bounced back after a loss at Kansas State and improved to 17-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big 12. Texas Tech dropped to 13-8 overall and 1-6 in the league. Bolte was in double figures for the fourth consecutive game, pacing Iowa State with 19 points. She was 6-of-12 from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. She got the Cyclones going early in the first half with a couple of treys, while Lacey finished the half off with six straight points that sparked ISU to the win. Lacey nearly completed her second triple double, finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Freshman Chelsea Poppens also finished in double figures with 11 points for ISU. “Kelsey is really starting to play the way we need her to play,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “She’s taking more shots and she’s looking for her shot. She came out of the gate really hard tonight.” Iowa State shot 47.6 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from outside the arc. The Cyclones outrebounded the Lady Raiders, 39-24, but committed a season-high 23 turnovers. It was the Cyclones’ highest turnover total since committing 23 in a win over IPFW in 2005. The ISU defense held Tech to 32.7 percent shooting from the field and 29.2 percent from long range. Ashlee Roberson was the only Lady Raider in double figures with 12 points. “I thought we played really hard and we defended really well,” Fennelly said. “It’s the first time all year I thought we got kind of sloppy. We rebounded and were making shots and the defense made up for all the other stuff. We got the bad taste out of our mouths from Sunday.” The Cyclones took a 35-24 lead into the break after going on a 14-2 run to end the first half. Bolte hit a pair of three-pointers as Iowa State got out to an 8-3 lead, but Texas Tech’s first three field goals came from behind the arc as the Lady Raiders closed within one, 10-9. Tech took its first lead of the contest, 13-12, and the lead went back and forth 10 times and was tied four over the first period. Tech took its final lead, 22-21, before the Cyclones closed the half with a 14-2 run. The Lady Raiders kept Lacey quiet for the bulk of the first half, but she drove to the basket for the Cyclones’ final six points of the period. Iowa State shot 47.8 percent from the field and was 3-of-7 from long range in the first half, while holding Texas Tech to 33.3 percent shooting from the field. Texas Tech was 4-of-11 from outside the arc. The Cyclones were 10-of-12 from the charity stripe, and outrebounded Tech, 20-12. The Lady Raiders, however, forced nine first-half miscues by the Cyclones, scoring 13 points off those turnovers. Bolte was 3-for-3 from three-point range and 4-of-7 from the field in the first half. Texas Tech got within eight, 37-29, on a three-pointer by Jordan Murphree, early in the second half, but the Lady Raiders never got any closer the rest of the way. Bolte drained another trey for the Cyclones to expand the ISU lead to 15, 46-31. Tech scored the next six points, but Poppens hit a free throw and Bolte knocked down another three-pointer to put ISU back out ahead 50-37. The Cyclones led by as many as 17 on a layup by Jessica Schroll with less than a minute remaining. The Cyclones will travel to Columbia, Mo., to face the Missouri Tigers at 3 p.m. Sunday. The game will be televised nationally by FSN.
Lacey, Bolte Pace Cyclones to 63-48 Win Over Tech
