Johnson suffers knee injury in Iowa State’s loss to No. 4 Baylor

AMES - A rough week looked like it was about to get a whole lot worse for Iowa State when fans watched Seanna Johnson lay on the ground, clutching her left knee.

Johnson went up for a defensive rebound against No. 4 Baylor's bigs late in the third quarter when she came down awkwardly on her left knee. She had almost single-handedly kept the Cyclones within striking distance of the Lady Bears with her 22 points, but exited the floor and retreated to the training room with some help.

'I have a thing when it comes to knees because I hurt my other knee during the preseason, but I was just focused on getting a win,” Johnson said. 'I didn't think anything. I was just like, ‘I've got to hurry and get up and get to the training room for them to tell me I'm fine.' Things happen.”

The junior guard did return early in the fourth quarter, but Baylor used all of its length to power to a 77-61 win in Hilton Coliseum. Johnson finished with 22 points and four rebounds in the loss, but only played a short stretch in the fourth quarter.

Johnson wore a black knee brace on her left leg after she returned to the court, but played only 90 seconds in the final 10 minutes. She said wasn't feeling too much pain following the game, but Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said he pulled her out to not risk any further injury.

'I said that's enough. The game was over at that point and we've got to be smart,” Fennelly said. 'We've got to be fair to her. You can't be selfish and say, ‘We need Seanna in the game to have a chance.' That's as selfish as it gets and the most important thing is we take care of her.”

The Lady Bears (19-1, 6-1) outrebounded the Cyclones (11-7, 3-4) 40-25 and had a 44-24 advantage in the paint. Khadijiah Cave led Baylor with 18 points and 13 rebounds while Nina Davis and Kristy Wallce each chipped in 14 points. Bridget Carleton had nine points and five rebounds for Iowa State.

'Our big kids have to get better, quick,” Fennelly said. 'You can't play the number of minutes they played today and have those few of rebounds. (Baylor is) going to get some. They're big, they're strong and they play hard, but there are times we got caught standing around and that's got to get better.”

Iowa State is riding a three-game losing streak after dropping three games in seven days - two on the road. The Cyclones have three of their next four games at home, with the lone road trip at last-place Kansas.

'We just have to come back ready to go on Wednesday against TCU,” said freshman Meredith Burkhall, who had 12 points. 'You can't change the past, you can only change the future and we have to get ready to go.”

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