The Iowa State women’s basketball team faced off against West Virginia for the second time this season, this time being at home on senior night. The Cyclones in their second to last game before the end of the regular season defeated/lost to the Mountaineers 85-68. 

The Cyclones record now improves to 15-9 (11-6 Big 12) as they now prepare for their final game against Kansas. 

The Cyclones started their three seniors Kristin Scott, Rae Johnson and Madison Wise on their night and Scott shined against the Mountaineers. Scott finished with 18 points and four rebounds as she was able to get any shot she wanted against the West Virginia defense.  

The first quarter started a bit slow for the Cyclones as the Mountaineers were shooting hot right from the tip-off. The Mountaineers started 6-7 from the field in the first as they could not seem to miss.

The Cyclones also had a tough time in transition defense which left multiple shooters open for West Virginia which hurt them early on. It wasn’t until a Cyclone timeout that the team was able to turn the game around in their favor. 

After that timeout, at the end of the first quarter there was not much to separate the two teams as both shot around 60% from the field and the Cyclones held a two point lead. 

The Cyclones were able to find some offensive momentum and build upon their lead in the second quarter as they found themselves up eight points at the end the first half. 

The second half saw the Cyclones build even further upon their lead as they were able to go up by as much as 22 behind the scoring of Kylie Feuerbach, Emily Ryan, Lexi Donarski and Ashley Joens. 

Donarski has been putting up double digits in the scoring department over the course of the last four games and continued that streak tonight with 18 points. Joens also contributed with 18 points and six rebounds against the Mountaineers and was able to draw a lot of contact to get to the free throw line multiple times. 

Kylie Feuerbach contributed to the Cyclones scoring run in the third quarter as she scored eight points in that quarter alone. She finished the night with 10 points on a very efficient 4-6 shooting and 2-3 from beyond the arc. 

Ryan was also able to get involved as she finished with 13 on the night along with nine assists as she was one shy of reaching a double double. 

The Cyclones were able to build such a big lead due to the amount of players contributing on the offensive end. The team had five players finish in double digit scoring and that is what made the difference for the Cyclones in the second half. 

Last time out against the Mountaineers the Cyclones’ only player to reach double figures in scoring was Ashley Joens. This time around the team was able to get other players involved early on which helped them get the win.

The Cyclones play their final game of the regular season on March 3 when they meet the Kansas Jayhawks at home. It was a close encounter last time against Kansas as Iowa State came away with a late 84-82 win. 

That game will be available to stream on ESPN+ via Big 12 Now with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m.