Iowa State ended Baylor’s 61-game home winning streak on Saturday night, capping a week that saw the Cyclones move into first place in the Big 12 Conference standings with back-to-back wins over previously undefeated conference foes in earning NCAA.com Team of the Week honors.
Iowa State improved to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12, capped by a 75-71 win in Waco over the No. 6 ranked Lady Bears, stopping the lengthy home win streak for Baylor that was the 10th longest in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. For Iowa State it was its first win in Waco since 1997 and tied for the highest ranked road win in program history, while Baylor lost at home for the first time since dropping a 75-69 game to Texas on Feb. 6, 2017. Going into the game, the Cyclones were already the only Big 12 team with two wins over Baylor the past six seasons., last season Iowa State stopped Baylor's 58-game Big 12 winning streak at home.
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Junior Ashley Joens led the way in the win over Baylor, scoring a game-high 27 points, while pulling down 12 rebounds. The guard/forward shot 10-for-15 from the floor and 7-for-10 from the foul line. Iowa State trailed 6-3 early before scoring 15 consecutive points. Baylor quickly rallied to take the lead in the second quarter. The two teams exchanged leads before Iowa State eventually took the lead for good on a Lexi Donarski 3-pointer with 4:17 remaining to make it 68-65. Joens clinched the win with a layup that pushed the score to 75-71 inside 10 seconds to play. Joens scored 14 of her 27 points at Baylor in the fourth quarter along with six of her 12 rebounds.
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Iowa State opened the week with a 90-80 home win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 13 as Joens registered another double-double with a 30-point, 15-rebound effort. One game after setting a new program record with 19 3-pointers, the Cyclones knocked down 16-of-33 from deep to hand Oklahoma State its first conference loss of the season. Donarski knocked down 4-of-5 attempts from 3-point range to lead the Cyclones from long distance. Donarski totaled 14 points, including eight in the third quarter. She added five rebounds, three assists and one block.
Iowa State, which moved back into the Associated Press top-25 poll at No. 24 on Monday, plays three of its next four games at home, a stretch that begins Tuesday against Oklahoma and ends Jan. 31 when Baylor visits Ames.
