Guard Seanna Johnson went up for the rebound in Iowa State’s 77-61 loss to No. 4 Baylor on Saturday and came down clutching her left knee. 

The Hilton Coliseum crowd, on its feet for the past few minutes as the Cyclones tried to muster a late third-quarter comeback, went hush. The only sound heard throughout the stadium was the chatter between Johnson and the quick-acting trainers. 

Johnson exited the court with her arms draped around two trainers, who almost carried her into the locker room. 

“The first thing you think about is you hope the kid is not hurt bad,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “She took a hell of a fall and landed awkward. As a coach, the worst thing that can happen is to see a kid get hurt. You’re miserable, your heart goes into your throat.”

But Johnson wasn’t thinking about being out for an extended period of time. Even while down by double-digits, the thought that popped in her head was to get up and play. 

“I was like, ‘I gotta hurry up and get up and hurry up and get to the training room and tell them I’m fine,'” Johnson said. 

The third quarter ended and Fennelly huddled his players together to prepare for the final 10 minutes. As the final quarter started up, Johnson emerged from the locker room with a knee brace, ready to play. 

Johnson entered for a minute and a half before Fennelly took her out for the rest of the game. He didn’t want to make it worse, as the Cyclones had little chance to pull out a comeback. There wasn’t much to be gained by having his best player on the court. 

“The game was over at that point,” Fennelly said. “We’ve got to be smart. We’ve got to be fair for her. You can’t just say, ‘We need Seanna in the game so we can win.’ That’s as selfish as it gets.”

Even with Johnson playing the majority of the game — 30 minutes — while putting up a game-high 22 points, the Cyclones couldn’t keep up with the Lady Bears.

Baylor’s size and strength in the post just proved too much for the under-sized ISU squad, as the Lady Bears out-rebounded the Cyclones, 40-25, and out-scored them in the paint, 44-24. 

The loss also marked Iowa State’s third straight loss, stemming from an overtime loss to Texas Tech on Sunday. Johnson put up 53 points in each of those three loses and has already made a case as one of the top players in the Big 12. 

Her knee did seem to hamper her when she returned, and after the game, she didn’t let on that it may have been bothering her. 

“It’s pretty good,” Johnson said. “I’m fine. I tried to play on it, but coach said, ‘There’s a lot of season left. Don’t risk anything. Just help your teammates.'”

Johnson walked out after her post-game interview with a brace on her ankle and ice wrapped around the front of her knee. 

Despite Johnson’s optimism about her knee, Fennelly was a little more cautious.

“I don’t know how bad it is, she’s pretty sore right now,” Fennelly said. 

Even while shouldering a loss, the game could’ve been much worse for the Cyclones. Especially if Johnson was unable to return at the end of the game. 

“Obviously for Seanna, the season that she is having, you don’t want to see something like that mitigate what she could do,” Fennelly said. “The most important thing [we could do for her] is taking care of her.”