The Cyclones played two games in three days and were able to come away with a narrow win over Kansas State and fell short against Baylor last week.

The Cyclones were able to defeat Kansas State by two points in the 62-60 victory but couldn’t get the job done against Baylor, losing 85-77.

Iowa State’s record now sits at 11-6 (7-3 Big 12) as they hope to improve against West Virginia on Wednesday. 

Rebounding

In their close loss to Baylor, the Cyclones were out-rebounded by a big margin which was the difference in that game. Baylor ended the night with 51 rebounds to Iowa State’s 26 and nearly half of Baylor’s rebounds were on the offensive glass.

Baylor had 21 offensive rebounds which turned into 21 second chance points and helped them pull away from Iowa State in the fourth quarter. Junior forward Ashley Joens mentioned after the loss how the rebounding of Baylor helped them seal the win. 

“They did an amazing job getting in there and getting rebounds,” Joens said. “We needed to box out more and get in there and fight for them.” 

The Cyclones were neck and neck with the Lady Bears throughout most of the game and had they not given up the 21 second chance points, the game could have gone very differently.

Joens continues to put up big numbers

Over the course of the season, Ashley Joens has proven that she is one of the best scorers in the conference, if not the country. She currently averages 25 points and nine rebounds per game and over the Cyclones’ last two games she remained consistent in both. 

Against Kansas State, Joens put up 22 points and eight rebounds which helped the team get the narrow victory. She also recorded 25 points with seven rebounds in the loss against Baylor. 

Joens has been crucial to the scoring of the Cyclones as she consistently records 20 plus points per game and occasionally single-handedly keeps the Cyclones in games when the team can’t get anything going on offense for stretches. 

Joens has been able to get points in many different ways this season as she’s a threat on the inside where she can put away tough shots and draw fouls, and she can also shoot from the mid-range and beyond the arc.

Fennelly wins 700th game 

One of the highlights over the last two games for the Cyclones was the 700th career win for Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly. 

The 62-60 win over Kansas State on Thursday was the game that marked Fennelly’s 700th win and the team helped their head coach celebrate the accomplishment after the game.

Joens said Fennelly was shocked when the team surprised him after the game.

“He was really grateful and thankful for everything that we do and just all the support that he has surrounding him,” said Joens. “His family flew out to the game so they were all here and all the people, players and coaches that help him do what he does [were here] and he was just really grateful for all of that.”

After the game, Fennelly was unaware that his family had flown out to watch the game in anticipation of him winning his 700th career game. 

“I didn’t know they were coming which made it even more nerve-racking,” Fennelly said. “It was great to be able to share a special moment with the most special people in my life who put up with me and put up with this job so it’s a blessing and I’m lucky that they can see it.”

The Cyclones will play their next game on Wednesday against West Virginia with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m. That game will be available to stream on ESPN+ via Big 12 Now as the Cyclones hope to bounce back from their recent loss against Baylor.