Joens, Cyclones get going against Dolphins

AMES — Sometimes it takes an effort play to jump-start a stalled offense.

That’s what Iowa State star Ashley Joens provided multiple times — in addition to her usual high number of points — in the No. 10 Cyclones’ 84-50 rout of Jacksonville Sunday before 10,182 fans at Hilton Coliseum.

“You just have to want to go get the ball,” said Joens, who matched a season-high with six offensive rebounds while notching her 53rd career double-double. “If there’s a loose ball you have to want it. Just go after it.”

The former Iowa City High star finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. She’ll likely end her decorated ISU career as both the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Joens currently has 1,163 career rebounds — 46 behind former great Angie Welle, whom she passed on the all-time scoring chart last season.

“I think (her rebounding) is under appreciated, but it is a huge part of her game,” Cyclone head coach Bill Fennelly said. “I think the offensive rebounds she got early, I mean, it seemed like the other night (in a loss at No. 16 Iowa), we couldn’t make anything to start the game.”

ISU (7-2) missed nine of its first 10 3-point attempts before guard/forward Nyamer Diew scored from beyond the arc to spark a 19-1 run capped by Lexi Donarski’s improvised basket at the end of the shot clock.

“It was a fun play, obviously,” said Cyclone point guard Emily Ryan, who finished with nine points, seven assists and five rebounds. “We didn’t have much going for us. She had two people on us and she just had to throw it up at the last second and it happened to go in. Maybe home court rims, or something like that.”

ISU’s talented 6-6 post player Stephanie Soares rebounded from a tough game at Iowa to score 20 points in 17 minutes.

“She took the other night really hard,” Fennelly said. “It just wasn’t a great night against a really good team, but she’s skilled. She plays hard. She works at it every day in practice. I think she showed some toughness on some plays that maybe we haven’t seen. We’ve seen the skill, but the one offensive rebound she got in the second half, she was like, ‘I’m going to get that (darn) thing,’ and we haven’t really seen that a lot out of her.”

Fennelly’s seen just about everything from Joens, who shot 50 percent or better from the field for the fourth time this season.

“We really challenged (her) yesterday in practice and the way she responded was exactly what I anticipated,” Fennelly said.