The Iowa State women’s basketball team came away with a big win against Kansas in their final game of the regular season. Having just scraped by in their last meeting with the Jayhawks 84-82, the Cyclones were able to take this game in a 83-53 blowout. 

This big performance came thanks to an explosive second half after the Cyclones struggled early on in the first quarter.

The first few minutes of the first quarter saw the Cyclones commit multiple turnovers and fail to get any offensive rhythm going as no one could seem to make a shot. 

The first quarter saw freshman Lexi Donarski go 0-5 from the field, and the team as a whole shot 3-12 from the 3-point line as well, which was very unlike them.  

With the team struggling offensively, junior Ashley Joens had to pick up a lot of the load for the Cyclones.

Joens finished with a double double as she scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the win, and Head Coach Bill Fennelly felt she was crucial in turning the game around.

“[Joens] continues to do the things we need her to do,” Fennelly said. “She finds ways to score, she finds ways to rebound, and even when she’s not scoring, she draws enough attention where she can give the ball up and someone’s open.” 

Joens has been a player the Cyclones look to every game to score, and when the team struggled early on, she was able to keep them within single digits. Eventually, the team was able to turn the game around.

Fennelly also mentioned what he felt were the key changes that helped the Cyclones turn their early struggles into a 30-point win. 

“I think we got some transition baskets finally, and I thought our defense was solid,” Fennelly said. “Obviously, to start the game, we couldn’t make anything, but we still were hanging around, and we played a really efficient last three minutes of the half.” 

Those last three minutes of the second half saw the Cyclones build an 11-point lead heading into the third quarter, and from there, they kept building that lead.

The Cyclones were up by as much as 33 points and were able to go on a big run early on in the fourth quarter. The Cyclones scored 27 points in the fourth on an efficient 60 percent field goal shooting wile also holding the Jayhawks to 16 points. 

Although Joens and Kristin Scott did not play much in the fourth quarter, Fennelly believes the rest of the team was still able to get the job done.

“It was a lot of the other kids that took care of the ball and made shots,” Fennelly said. “It wasn’t just our normal starters or the kids that play a lot of minutes, it was other people that had to make the shots they were supposed to make, so that was really good to see those other kids be efficient.”

The fourth quarter saw Donarski find her shot as she scored 9 points on 100 percent 3-point shooting and also saw the likes of Kylie Feuerbach and Aubrey Joens get involved. 

With the Big 12 tournament approaching in a week’s time, the Cyclones will hope to build on this win as they prepare to face Texas most likely in the quarterfinals. 

With that win, the Cyclones’ regular season record finishes at 16-9 (12-6 Big 12), and the focus is now all on the Big 12 Championship.