Riverside—Annelise Ito recorded her second double-double of the season Tuesday evening scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds at Iowa State, but the Cyclones scored the first eight points of the game and never trailed in a 71-54 victory in the Championship Game of the Cyclone Challenge.

Iowa State's Seanna Johnson matched Ito shot for shot recording an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double of her own. She also got some help from a number of her teammates as the Cyclones made 11 three-pointers, compared to two for the Highlanders, and outscored UCR from the free thrown line 14-6.

Two of those long distance shots came in the game's first three minutes as three different Cyclones scored in the early going to put the Highlanders on their heels. UCR cut the advantage to three,11-8, but Iowa State countered with a 7-0 run to take their first double-digit lead.

With 3:24 to go in the first, a Johnson jumper in the lane made it an 11-point game, and the Highlanders were never able to get any closer the rest of the way.

Johnson scored eight points and grabbed eight boards in the first 20 minutes of play, while Nikki Moody led all scorers at the break with 15. She finished with a game-high 19.

Brittany Crain, who was named Big West Conference Player of the Week yesterday, started out slowly, but finished with a team-high 16 points for UC Riverside.

The Highlanders return home for the New Year, and host Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday, January 3 at 12 pm PT.