AMES – With her strong shooting arm and her ability to be everywhere on the court, Kelsey Joens carried the Cyclones to a dominating 64-53 win against Houston on Wednesday.
Building momentum quickly, the sophomore guard created a regular pattern of putting Iowa State on the board. With a 3-point jump shot from her comfort spot in the corner, Joens marked herself as the first successful shooter of the night.
Despite a struggle with keeping a steady pace early in the first quarter, the Cyclones managed to hold an 18-14 lead, with Joens being the main contributor. Within the first 10 minutes, Joens went 100% from behind the arc, drawing back-to-back threes, tallying up a team-high of nine points after going 3-for-3 from long range.
“They pass it to me for a reason,” Joens said. “Knowing that I can hit those big shots. So just knowing they can find me, draw the defense and then we can go inside and other people will open up.”
Building on her perfect scoring success, Joens ended the first half by going 4-for-4 from field goal range, grabbing three rebounds and overall continuing to lead the team with 11 points.
“She was by far the best player for us,” Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said. “I don’t think it was even close.”
With a shortened lineup due to ongoing injuries within the team, the Cyclones experimented with a change in rotations. With more time on the court, Joens made the most of her 37 minutes, earning a team-high and a new season-high of 13 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Alongside the Cyclones’ new rotations, key players such as sophomore center Audi Crooks and sophomore forward Addy Brown were stuck at minimal scoring opportunities due to both being targets for the Cougars.
With both Crooks and Brown each scoring 12 points, Joens was able to step up in new positions and show her strong play-making abilities and shooting strength around the court.
“Every game is a little different, tonight with [Arianna Jackson] out, changed our rotation,” Fennelly said. “Emily Ryan tweaked her ankle again, changed our rotation. We are playing Addy Brown at point guard and we practiced it a zero amount of times because of our limitations in practice. So Kelsey [Joens] gave us some things that tonight even showed up even more because of the situation from our rotation.”
Joens left the court 5-for-6 from field goal range. The 3-point success of the team contributed to over a third of the Cyclones’ overall score, as the team made 37% of the shots going 10-for-27 from the 3-point line.
In this game, as well as previous ones, Joens has become a consistent factor in the team’s success, whether due to her strong rebounding abilities or 3-point shooting. Fennelly mentioned how Joens has earned her spot and compared her to a position in a different sport.
“She’s the everyday shortstop,” Fennelly said. “She’s earned it, she will be in there for the rest of the season, she’ll get her minutes. She has proven to everyone, especially her teammates, that that’s the person we need in that spot.”
