AMES, Iowa – Iowa State’s Chelsea Poppens and Hallie Christofferson posted strong performances to lead the Cyclones past Northern Arizona 65-41 Sunday evening at Hilton Coliseum. The win improves Iowa State to 3-0 while NAU drops to 2-3.

It was an all-around strong performance by the Cyclone post players. Poppens finished the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her ninth career double-double. Christofferson posted 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Fallon Ellis was also strong for Iowa State off the bench with five points and six rebounds.

Freshman Nikki Moody was busy for the Cyclones, posting career-highs in assists (nine), rebounds (four) and steals (three). Brynn Williamson came off the bench to post seven points.

Iowa State will travel to Reno, Nev. Later this week to compete in the Nugget Classic. The Cyclones take on Penn State Friday at 6 p.m. CST and will then play either Butler or Nevada the next day.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – Johnny Moran shot 6 for 6 from the free-throw line and finished with 17 points to lead Northern Iowa past Northern Colorado 78-69 on Sunday. The Panthers (2-1) went ahead for good midway through the second half when Jake Koch hit a 3-pointer to break a 54-all tie. They went on to lead by as many as 10 points in the final minute. Koch finished with 15 points while Deon Mitchell and Marc Sonnen added 12 each and Anthony James scored 10. The Bears (0-3) led throughout much of the first half, shooting 40 percent from the field and making 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. But they sent the Panthers to the free-throw line 14 times in the second half and the Northern Iowa made 12 of those tries. The Bears’ Paul Garnica led the game with 22 points, including six 3-pointers, while Tate Unruh added 12 points.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State’s football victory over then-No. 2 Oklahoma State Friday night carried over to the hardwood. Sunday’s 92-60 victory over Western Carolina was helped by a pre-practice showing of football coach Paul Rhoads’ locker room speech after the Cyclones’ 37-31 double-overtime upset of the heavily-favored Cowboys. Basketball coach Fred Hoiberg was inspired by Rhoads’ message of team unity and hopes that his players buy into that as well. “The guys walked out of the locker room (on Saturday) pumped up,” Hoiberg said. “Hopefully it has a great impact on our guys. (Rhoads) has got every single one of those guys to buy in.” On Sunday, Iowa State (2-1) looked nothing like the team that was utterly lost earlier in the week in an ugly defeat at Drake. The Cyclones had four players score in double figures and shot 65.3 percent from the floor – their most accurate shooting effort in nearly two seasons. Guard Chris Baab led the way with 18 points, hitting all five of his attempts from 3-point range. The game was played as part of the South Padre Island Invitational. Iowa State continues tournament play Tuesday at home against Northern Colorado before heading to South Padre Island for games Friday and Saturday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa native Doug McDermott scored 25 points in his return to Des Moines and Creighton rolled past Iowa 82-59 on Sunday. Gregory Echenique added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bluejays, who are 4-0 for the first time in four years. Creighton quickly turned what was expected to be a close game into a rout. The Bluejays pushed a 16-point lead to 68-39 midway through the second half and outrebounded the Hawkeyes 43-27. McDermott, playing on the floor where he won a pair of state titles for Ames High, was 10-of-15 shooting from the field. Freshman Josh Oglesby had 14 points and Matt Gatens added 13 for Iowa (3-1).