On Monday, Iowa State players and coach Bill Fennelly met with the media to discuss the performance of Ashley Joens, the impact of Meredith Burkhall and the team’s upcoming game against No. 2 Baylor.

Joens named Co-Freshman of the Week

After her stellar 25 point game versus Oklahoma, guard Joens was named the Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Week. Christianna Carr from Kansas State was the other recipient of the award.

During the game against Oklahoma, Joens connected on 8-of-13 from the floor and 6-10 of her shots from the three point line. Joens also had four rebounds, two assists and five turnovers.

The 25 points was a career high and propelled Iowa State to a 104-76 win.

Coach Bill Fennelly said the addition of Joens and Alexa Middleton, a transfer, have been new additions which have added to the success of the team in different ways.

Joens has been a three-point sniper for the Cyclones and leads the team in three-point makes, converting 39.4 percent of those tries.

Fennelly said Joen’s development has been good this season, but wants her to improve off of the bounce and work on getting to the foul line more often.

Burkhall’s impact

A senior starter, Burkhall was replaced as the starting center for the Cyclones by Kristin Scott during Iowa State’s game versus Oklahoma.

In the prior game versus West Virginia, Burkhall had 2 points on 1-2 shooting in only eight minutes of play.

Against Oklahoma, Burkhall had her best performance of the season coming off of the bench with 14 points and ten rebounds. Burkhall shot 4-for-6 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Aside from her recent performance, Fennelly said Burkhall’s impact is felt outside of her performance on the court.

“If you guys walked into practice and closed your eyes, you would hear my voice and Mere’s voice,” Fennelly said.

Fennelly said he has never heard a negative word about Burkhall, and her positivity is instrumental to the team.

Dealing with No. 2 Baylor’s length

Fennelly stated that when dealing with Baylor, Iowa State will be facing a team with size which is unique to college basketball.

“It’s sort of a joke, but it’s true,” Fennelly said. “We’re not going to become six-seven, six-four, six-four whatever tomorrow.”

Burkhall will be one of the posts tasked with trying to corral Baylor’s 6-foot-7 forward Kalani Brown, who averages 15.3 points per game.

Burkhall, who stands at 6-foot-3, has guarded Brown before and said the key to defending Baylor’s posts is to keep them out of the post in general.

Despite the height advantage, Fennelly said Iowa State still needs to go out on the court and compete for rebounds.

When playing Baylor, Fennelly said Iowa State needs to prevent Baylor from breaking the team’s will.

Iowa State and Baylor tip-off Wednesday at 7 p.m.