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Cyclones hold court in Ames

Associated Press

AMES, Iowa - Iowa State's response to Texas A&M's pressure defense was to respond in kind.

"Attack pressure with pressure," ISU coach Bill Fennelly said.

The Cyclones did exactly that. They drove the ball aggressively to the basket and got strong inside play from Nicky Wieben and Toccara Ross in beating the 13th-ranked Aggies 61-54 Wednesday night.

"We wanted to put our head down and attack the basket, draw a foul, kick it to the shooter, do something where we'd have some open space," Fennelly said.

Iowa State (18-7, 6-6 Big 12) ended up outscoring the Aggies 21-2 on free throws and had a 34-22 edge in points in the paint. Wieben finished with 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting, while Ross added 12 points and 13 rebounds.

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Buy this photo AP Photo Texas A&M's A'Quonesia Franklin defends Iowa State's Lyndsey Medders on Wednesday in Ames, Iowa.

The Cyclones held A&M (19-5, 9-3) without a field goal for more than 6 minutes during a 14-1 game-clinching run that ended the Aggies' six-game winning streak and dropped them to 0-6 at Hilton Coliseum.

"We shot 21 3s and that's not good," A&M coach Gary Blair said. "That means we weren't getting shots inside."

A&M tied it at 46 when Patrice Reado scored inside with 8:25 left. But the Aggies didn't get another basket until Reado scored at the 2:17 mark and the Cyclones went to the 6-foot-4 Wieben inside to put it away.

Wieben scored on a follow shot and two low-post moves to give Iowa State a 54-46 lead. After A&M's La Toya Micheaux sank a free throw, the Cyclones came back with two free throws by Wieben, two more by Heather Ezell and a turnaround shot in the lane by Ross to stretch their lead to 60-47 and finish off the Aggies.

"I was just getting some good looks inside," Wieben said. "Our guards were good at reading that. We just went on a little bit of a spark there. We were stopping their shots and our shots went in."

Takia Starks hit a career-high five 3-pointers and scored 23 points to lead A&M. But she had only seven points and just one 3 in the second half. Danielle Gant added 13 points for the Aggies, who shot just 37 percent.

Morenike Atunrase, A&M's No. 2 scorer for the season with an 11.8 average, managed only two points on 1-for-7 shooting. Teammate A'Quonesia Franklin went 0-for-8 from 3-point range and scored only four points but handed out eight assists.

"We've got to have balanced scoring," Blair said. "We only had two people scoring for us all night. We're not going to win games in our league with just two people scoring."

Iowa State's victory combined with Texas Tech's win at No. 19 Nebraska and Baylor's victory over Oklahoma State left A&M, Nebraska, Baylor and Oklahoma tied for first in the Big 12.

"It's a great league. It's a tough league to play in," Starks said. "Yes, we are tied for first. We are happy. A couple of years ago, we wouldn't even be thinking about first place."

Ezell finished with 10 points for Iowa State, which trailed only twice in the second half, each time by one point. After it was 28-all at halftime, there were five ties and three lead changes in the second half before Iowa State went on its decisive run.

"You hope you can get some separation. It seemed like when we got separation, we separated from two to 11 just like that," Fennelly said, snapping his fingers. "It seemed like every possession was painful and then we got enough margin to hang on."

A&M's luncheon Thursday: Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair will have a Thursday luncheon for fans at Reed Arena in Room 301 at 11:30 a.m.

Blair will talk about Saturday's victory over Oklahoma and Wednesday's loss to Iowa State.

A&M baseball coach Rob Childress will be Blair's guest speaker.

Cost is $10 per person (cash or checks only). Parking will be available in front of Reed Arena or in the West Campus Parking Garage.