Ashley Joens won her second straight gold medal for the U.S. in international play when the U.S. beat Australia in the championship game of the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup.

Before this year’s World Cup, Joens played for the U.S. at the FIBA U18 Americas Women’s Championship in 2018.

At the World Cup, Joens played sparingly and only averaged 2.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.3 assists a game.

Joens only played for under a minute against Belgium in the semifinals and less than four minutes against Australia in the final.

Against Belgium, Joens failed to make a mark on the boxscore, but she did register a rebound and steal against Australia while missing two shots at the rim.

During the finals game, which the U.S. won 74 to 70, there were 21 lead changes between the Americans and Aussies, who shot 36% from the floor while the U.S. shot 33%.

At FIBA Americas in 2018, Joens was a captain on the U.S. and averaged 10.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists a game. Her point total was the second best on the team.

Following FIBA Americas, Joens went on to earn Big 12 All-Freshman team honors. She averaged 11.7 points, 5 rebounds and 0.7 assists and shot 43.3% from the floor.

Joens’ point total was the third highest on the team and Joens will be the team’s second best scorer returning next season after the graduation of Bridget Carleton, who averaged 21.7 points a game. Kristin Scott, who will be a junior, will be the team’s best returning scorer after averaging 12.8 a game.

As a freshman, Joens’ game was primarily based around her 3-point shot. Joens shot 197 3-point shots last season, which was a team high and accounted for 60.4% of all of her shots taken. She made 36.5% of those 197 shots.

At the World Cup, Joens had a similar rate of shots coming from three as 59.2% of her shots came from 3-point range, but she shot 12.5% from long distance.

During her freshman year, coach Bill Fennelly said he wanted Joens to improve as a player by becoming a better defender and also be able to drive and score around the rim.

If Iowa State wants to attempt to replace Carleton’s scoring, Joens will need to improve her scoring ability outside of the 3-point line.