Two weeks after No. 4 Baylor dismantled Iowa State in Waco, Texas, the Bears made it a season sweep against the Cyclones in a 79-50 win on Wednesday night.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Baylor is good

The country knew just how good Baylor was, but Iowa State fans finally got a firsthand look at them. Led by its 6-foot-7 center Kalani Brown, Baylor was as good as advertised.

“They’re a monster,” said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. “We had no answer for them inside.”

Baylor shot an incredible 60 percent from the field over the first two quarters. That is unheard of in the college basketball world. They also have length, a lot of length. Next to Brown, the Bears have Lauren Cox.

Cox is “listed” at 6-foot-4 and she certainly used all of her length. The sophomore had six blocks by halftime, perhaps none bigger than her first quarter block on Claire Ricketts. Cox ended her night with nine blocks and 15 rebounds.

Ricketts brought the ball inside the arc and Cox baited her to drive the hoop. Ricketts bit the bait and Cox went full swat on her and sent the ball into the stands of Hilton Coliseum.

“The only good thing about tonight is we don’t have to play them again,” Fennelly said.

With Brown and Cox patrolling under the rim, the Bears also utilized Kristy Wallace and Natalie Chou. Chou lit up the Cyclones in Waco, Texas, for 17 points, but tonight it wasn’t her scoring, but rather her facilitating, finishing with seven assists.

Carleton’s back

Iowa State’s shooting slump was well known. It is also known that Bridget Carleton is right in the middle of that shooting slump. Fennelly told Carleton to stay out of the gym on Sunday or he would bench her.

Well, Carleton stayed out of the gym and it showed. Carleton paced the Cyclones with 24 points, one shy of Brown’s game-high 25 points. The junior had 12 by halftime and her 24 points were the most a player has scored against Baylor in conference play.

“It was nice to hit some threes finally,” Carleton said. “Obviously my free throws, I don’t think I’ve gone a game in awhile that I haven’t missed a free throw.

“I guess the rest day paid off.”

Carleton hit all seven attempts from the charity stripe for seven free points. While her shooting slump may be over, the rest of Iowa State’s slump lives on for another game. The Cyclones went 1-for-17 from the field in the first quarter and only 15-for-61 in the game. That’s 5.9 percent and 34.6 percent, respectively.

“We start off pretty slow and we need to start off a lot stronger and play together in the beginning,” said freshman guard Rae Johnson.

Although Johnson hit just three shots on 10 attempts, the freshman followed up her solid performance at Texas Tech with 10 points.

Just the beginning

Baylor is just the beginning of a loaded five-game stretch. Up next, Iowa State hosts No. 17 West Virginia, travels to No. 24 Oklahoma State and No. 9 Texas, only to finish the stretch against TCU in Ames.

All of those opponents are well over .500 and all have a legitimate shot to at least play Baylor to a close game.

Next game out, the Cyclones face No. 17 West Virginia. That’s a West Virginia team the Cyclones took to the buzzer two weeks ago. And like that game, Iowa Sate is coming off a blowout loss from the hands of Baylor.

“We do have to keep [strong second and third quarters] up,” Johnson said. “We do need to start a lot stronger than in the beginning of the quarter. We kind of fade back and get into the game.

“We just need to come out really hard and we need to come out really hard against West Virginia. They’re a good team.”