WBB: Cyclones right the ship with double-digit win over KU

AMES — After back-to-back double-digit losses, No. 13 Iowa State needed a big win in a big way and it got that on Wednesday against Kansas.

With a 79-54 victory, the Cyclones got their 14th victory in a row over one of the better Jayhawks teams in recent memory.

“We talk about that all the time – we have choices to make in life and as a basketball team,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said about the stretch. “My choice is I feel sorry for myself and it gets worse or I accept what happened.”

His team carried that in full stride.

The Cyclones rode to victory on a massive advantage throughout the game, outscoring Kansas by 23 at the free throw and 3-point lines, combined.

Ashley Joens brought home 21 and Iowa State held Kansas’ leading scorer Holly Kersgeiter to just eight points on the night, contributing to the win for Fennelly’s squad.

“I just thought our team played a very efficient kind of Iowa State game on both ends of the floor against a really good team,” Fennelly said. “Kansas – they’re going to be in the NCAA Tournament. I think that’s a win that’s going to go a long way down the road.”

All four post players saw court time in the first half of Wednesday’s game – a rarity for the Cyclones in the passed few weeks.

While underclassmen Maggie Vick and Izzi Zingaro are gaining more traction on their college legs, foul trouble for Morgan Kane and injury risk for Beatriz Jordao both contributed.

“(Kane) was in foul trouble and (Jordao) was limited because she’s (dealing with a minor injury) to her leg,” Fennelly said. “We just wanted to give all of them a shot.”

That’s easier to do when the team is up by 12 after one quarter of action, but nonetheless it got done.

Lexi Donarski added 14 points and Aubrey Joens tallied 16 on the night. Emily Ryan finished with 14 points and nine assists.

The win gives the Cyclones a 17-3 record overall and improves a conference-best record to 6-2 through eight games this year.

It kicked off what Fennelly told his team was a four-game season following the pair of losses.

“This is the time of year that we segment out the season, so we talked about a four-game season,” Fennelly said. “That’s when our bye comes. Our message was more to just focus on those next four. That was a good start to it today, we have another tough one on Saturday.”

Iowa State will return to the court on Saturday to take on a Texas Tech team that took No. 11 Baylor to the wire on Wednesday.

While it won’t be easy, the team will be looking to hit the halfway mark of conference play with a winning streak in hand.

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