Iowa State women need to keep shooting

AMES — Iowa State defends well. The Cyclones generally rebound well, too.

But one area No. 14 ISU has struggled this season is 3-point shooting — and that’s surprising and not particularly concerning to women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly.

“Everyone’s like, ‘Why do you keep shooting it?’” said Fennelly, whose team (7-2) faces No. 25 Villanova at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Invesco QQQ Hall of Fame Basketball Women’s Showcase at Uncasville, Conn. “Well, we’re gonna keep shooting it. That’s what we do.

“And I’ve told them over and over (that) I don’t know that there’s a coach in the country that gives every single player on their team the green light. There’s no reason to even think about it. If you’re open, shoot it.”

That’s generally been a sound strategy for the Cyclones, who ranked second nationally last season in 3-point makes with 357. ISU is averaging 9.8 successful 3-point tries this season, which ranks eighth nationally, but they’re converting those shots at a lower-than-usual clip of 32.23 percent (138th in the country).

So what gives? Who cares.

As Fennelly noted, the Cyclones will keep shooting from long range with confidence, which means several breakthroughs will likely come, as they have in the past.

“We have kids who can make it,” Fennelly said. “We’re not making it now and hopefully that will come. The biggest thing is shot selection and I thought our selection was good (in a recent 84-50 win over Jacksonville). We were open. We were flooding to the ball. We moved the ball and we didn’t make as many as we’d like, but our selection was good.”

Villanova (9-2) ranks 317th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage defense, so that should bode well for the Cyclones’ sharpshooters such as Ashley Joens, Emily Ryan and Lexi Donarski.

Joens — ISU’s all-time leading scorer — is six made 3-pointers from tying the school record of 287 shared by Megan Taylor and Heather Ezell.

“You just have to trust and believe in yourself,” Joens said. “As you keep shooting and believing in yourself, and the process you’re going through, shots will start falling.”

The Wildcats’ two losses have come to No. 16 Creighton and No. 18 Baylor. The Cyclones’ two losses have come to 12th-ranked Iowa and No. 7 North Carolina, so both teams have faced high-level competition early in the season.

And if ISU settles into its typically very good range in terms of 3-point shooting accuracy, another big win against a good foe is likely to occur.

“It’s not about skill and it’s not about want-to,” Fennelly said. “You’ve just got to see it go in a few times. They’ve done it in the past and they’ll do it again, so I guess I’m not worried about it.

“Maybe I should be, but I’m really not.”

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