AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly might have to work on his pregame speech.
For the second game in a row, the Cyclones got off to a terrible start. But unlike the previous game, a 70-58 loss to top-ranked Baylor, No. 17 Iowa State came back with a huge second half Tuesday night and rolled past Nebraska 64-43.
Kelsey Bolte scored 22 points and Iowa State outscored Nebraska 43-11 in the first 16 minutes of the second half, finishing that stretch with a 22-0 run.
The Cyclones (13-3, 1-1 Big 12) regrouped after falling behind 9-0 and trailing by as many as 11. Against Baylor, they trailed 16-0 before getting on the scoreboard.
"I have no idea what's going on at the beginning of the game," Fennelly said. "It was obvious the speech I gave Saturday was bad, so this one it was like, whatever."
Anna Prins added 18 points and 11 rebounds for Iowa State and Lauren Mansfield opened things up in the second half by scoring on four drives to the basket. She finished with nine points to go with seven assists and two steals.
Lindsey Moore's 13 points led Nebraska (10-6, 0-2), which has lost five of seven. The Cornhuskers led 26-21 at halftime, then missed 23 of their first 28 shots in the second half.
Iowa State started the second half with a 19-4 run to open a 40-30 lead. Nebraska drew to 42-37 on Katya Leick's basket inside, but the Cornhuskers went scoreless for the next nine minutes and by the time they got another basket, Iowa State led 64-37.
"When you pick up the defense, the offense is going to come," Bolte said. "We picked it up on the defensive end and we were able to get things going on the offensive end."
Bolte certainly picked it up. She made all seven of her second-half shots, including four 3-pointers, after managing only four points in the opening half.
"We went one possession to zone (on defense) and didn't find her and that got her going," Nebraska coach Connie Yori said.
Iowa State took its first lead when Bolte swished a 3-pointer from the left corner with 17:47 left, putting the Cyclones up 28-26. Chelsea Poppens followed with a driving basket for Iowa State and the Cyclones never trailed again.
"This game is so amazing how one thing feeds the other," Fennelly said. "Offensively, we were inept in the first eight minutes. Defensively, we weren't very good, either.
"But as bad as we were early in the first half, we were that good in the second half."
Nebraska's leading scorer for the season, Jordan Hooper, hit two 3-pointers in the first 8 minutes, then made only one more basket and finished with eight points. She was averaging 15.7.
Senior Dominique Kelley, the Cornhuskers' No. 2 scorer with a 14.1 average, sat out for the fourth time in five games because of a sore knee. The 43 points were a season low for the Cornhuskers, who were coming off their previous low in a 70-50 loss to No. 15 Oklahoma.
"With 'Nique being out, that hurts us a lot," Moore said. "Having her experience on the team adds that much more to it. Not having her out there, it's hard to get ball movement. We can definitely be the same team. We just have to have people step up in that area."
Updated January 11, 2011
