Needing a win to avoid a three game losing streak and to stay above .500, the Iowa State Cyclones traveled Wednesday to Manhattan, Kansas, to face the Kansas State Wildcats.

In their first meeting of the season, Iowa State beat Kansas State 73-59 on Jan 22. Things did not go the same way this time, as Kansas State defeated Iowa State 60-51.

With their Wednesday win, Kansas State now moves to fourth in the Big 12 with an 8-7 conference record (14-12 overall) while Iowa State is now in fifth with a 7-8 conference record (15-11 overall).

Iowa State was inefficient shooting the ball, sophomore forward Ashley Joens played arguably her worst game of the season and Kansas State did a better job of finding the open player on offense.

 A season-low 51 points

Coming into Wednesday’s contest, the Cyclones’ lowest point total in a game this season was 62 points in a 19-point loss to the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears. 

However, after shooting 32 percent from the floor and 24 percent from beyond the three-point line, the Cyclones scored only 51 points in their nine-point loss to the Wildcats on Wednesday.

In the first half alone, the Wildcats limited the Cyclones to just 17 points on 7-31 shooting from the floor. From three, the Cyclones shot 2-15.

The second half saw a better shooting performance from the Cyclones as they scored 34 points on 11-25 shooting, but it still wasn’t enough to defeat the Wildcats.

Usually when the Cyclones have struggled to score in games this season, they have been able to fall back on a strong performance from Joens, who had been averaging a league-high 21 points heading into Wednesday’s game.

Against the Wildcats, the Cyclones weren’t able to have that.

Joens’ struggles 

Joens had a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds, both of which were team highs. However, on Wednesday, she struggled to shoot efficiently from three and take care of the ball on offense. 

Joens shot 4-7 from inside the three-point line, but only 2-8 from beyond the three-point line. This season, Joens is shooting 34 percent from beyond the three-point line.

To go along with this, Joens committed seven turnovers, a tie for her season-high, which occurred in a seven-point loss against the Northern Iowa Panthers on Dec 22.

Kansas State’s assists

Both teams were even in turnovers with 16 each. Assists, on the other hand, were not so even. Iowa State dished out only five assists while Kansas State dished out 18 of them. 

It wasn’t just one player that distributed the ball well for Kansas State, it was a team effort. 

Eight different Kansas State players had an assist on Wednesday, led by junior forward Peyton Williams, who had six assists to go along with tying a team-high of 11 points on Wednesday against Iowa State.