AMES – No. 9 Iowa State (24-4, 13-3 Big 12) received 24 points and 12 boards from Ashley Joens en route to a 71-55 victory over Texas Tech (10-17, 3-13 Big 12) Saturday afternoon in Hilton Coliseum.
The win matched ISU’s record for conference victories in a season (13) and sets up a showdown on Monday in Ames between the Big 12’s top-two teams, as the Cyclones face Baylor in a game where the winner clinches at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title.
A strong third quarter by the Cyclones was the difference, outscoring the Red Raiders 22-10 in the period to overcome a brief second-half deficit. ISU made 8-of-12 shots in the quarter and never looked back.
Joens recorded her 44th career double-double and fifth-straight game with 18 or more points. She was 9-of-14 from the field. Emily Ryan added 11 points and nine assists.
ISU was perfect from the free-throw line (11-of-11) and is 42-of-44 at the charity stripe over its last four games.
A Lexi Donarski 3-pointer gave the Cyclones a 14-6 lead midway through the first quarter, but the Red Raiders responded to cut the ISU lead to 20-18 at the end of the period.
The Joens sisters began to heat up in the second period, making trio of 3-pointers in three-straight possessions – two by Ashley and another from Aubrey – to give the Cyclones a 33-27 lead with under four minutes left before halftime.
However, Rhyle McKinney hit a pair of mid-range jumpers for TTU to make it a 33-31 Cyclone lead at the half.
TTU briefly took the lead with the first two baskets of the second half, but a 14-2 run by the Cyclones, which included a 3-pointer by Nyamer Diew, gave the Cyclones their first double-digit lead at 47-37. ISU led 55-41 at the end of the period and cruised the rest of the way.
