Joens 30 points lift Iowa St. past Baylor, into Big 12 semis
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Ashley Joens hit seven 3-pointers and finished with 30 points to spark Iowa State to a 74-63 win over Baylor in a Big 12 Conference Tournament quarterfinal match-up on Friday. night.
Iowa State, seeded No. 3, will face second-seeded Oklahoma in the second of two semifinal games Saturday night. That game will feature a family reunion between Ashley Joens, the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, and her younger sister, Aubrey, a sophomore who came off the bench to score 15 points in the Sooners’ 77-76 win over TCU.
The sixth-seeded Bears tied the game on Darianna Littlepage-Buggs layup with a second left in the second quarter and went into intermission tied 37-37, and she put Baylor in front twice in the third quarter with a layup with 1:55 left for a 49-48 lead, but Iowa State closed the half on a 6-0 run to take a 54-49 advantage. Joens hit three 3-pointers in the final quarter, the final two 25 seconds apart to make it 71-63 with 2:30 left to play. Lexi Donarski drilled a 3 to give the Cyclones an 11-point lead with 1:25 left to set the final score.
Joens finished 11 of 23 from the field, hitting 7 of 15 shots from behind the arc, and grabbed 15 rebounds. Her 30 points leaves her 13 point shy of 3,000 career points and moves her into 14th all-time on the list of NCAA Division I all-time leading scorers. She now has 1,360 career rebounds.
Emily Ryan finished with 15 points for Iowa State (20-9). Morgan Kane had 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Denae Fritz had nine points and 10 rebounds.
Littlepage-Buggs scored 16 points and made three steals to lead Baylor (19-12). Caitlin Bickle and Jaden Owens each scored 15 points and Sarah Andrews had 12 points, six boards, nine assists and two blocked shots, including a spectacular block on an Iowa State fast break.
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