Stephanie Soares snares 20 rebounds as No. 11 Iowa State routs West Virginia

AMES — Iowa State’s Stephanie Soares is no stranger to 20 rebound games.

She did it frequently for The Master’s University at the NAIA level, but in the Big 12?

That’s different.

“You kind of have to do everything,” said the 6-6 Soares, who grabbed 20 boards in 25 minutes as the No. 11 Cyclones cruised past West Virginia, 70-50, Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum. “It’s nicer now.”

Much harder, too. Soares became the first ISU player to corral 20 rebounds since all-time leading scorer Ashley Joens accomplished the feat March 3, 2020 in a win at Kansas. Soares, a Brazil native and graduate transfer, also scored 13 points and blocked three shots.

“I wish you guys could see her at practice and how hard she works,” said Cyclones head coach Bill Fennelly, whose team improved to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in Big 12 play. “What I told her was, ‘You’re like a freshman that came to college and we’re teaching you a graduate level class.’ No offense to (the NAIA), but it is completely different than what she’s doing. The kid cares so much about what she’s doing. She wants to be the person that everyone thinks she can be.”

That’s a standout player for an ISU team with realistic expectations to forge another deep NCAA Tournament run. And Soares has lived up to those lofty aims — and the conference season’s just getting started.

“Steph does an amazing job on the boards, especially on the offensive end, then also on the defensive end,” said Joens, who notched her 55th career double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. “It allows us to get second-chance shots and it stops them from getting second-chance shots.”

The Cyclones treated the second half as a second chance of sorts after struggling early and striding into halftime tied, 37-37.

ISU turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter alone and the Mountaineers (9-4, 0-2) drilled six of their first 12 3-point shots to maintain control in the first half.

That completely changed after halftime, as the Cyclones forged a 20-2 run and West Virginia started 3-for-29 from the field. The Mountaineers missed their final 15 3-point attempts and trailed by double digits all but two minutes of the second half.

“We settled and we took maybe too quick a shots at times and things just kind of started unraveling,” West Virginia coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “Called a couple timeouts to try to get us back in a rhythm, a flow, and couldn’t quite get it.”

Lexi Donarski added 15 points for ISU and became the 33rd Cyclone to surpass 1,000 career points. Reserve forward Nyamer Diew played her best game of the season, totaling seven points and seven rebounds in just over 20 minutes of playing time.

“I texted Ny after practice yesterday,” Fennelly said. “It was the best practice she’d had all year. How hard she worked, how engaged she was — very similar to when the corner turned for her last year — and I think it translated to today. She was a huge part of the game. A huge part on both ends.”

So was Soares, whose impact on ISU’s fortunes should continue to grow as the grueling Big 12 slate plays out.

“Certainly Soares is a factor in the lane,” Plitzuweit said. “Makes life really difficult.”

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