Last Time Out

The Cyclones last played on December 19th, putting a whooping on the Prairie View A&M Panthers, 108-39. The Fighting Bill Fennellys poured in 19 threes, tying a school record set in January of 2021. Lexi Donarksi led the way in scoring, with a game-high 26 points on 6 made threes. Aubrey Joens added 6 more threes to go with 8 boards, while her sister Ashley added a double-double effort with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Emily Ryan played one of the most efficient games you’ll ever see, scoring 12 and dishing out 15 assists while not turning the ball over once.

Iowa State now leads the country in three-pointers, averaging 12 a game.

About West Virginia

West Virginia comes in at 7-3, with losses to future Big 12 team BYU, Kentucky, and South Florida, respectively. Their most recent game came against Michigan State, which they throttled for a 20-point victory.

The Mountaineers steer more towards their men’s team, in terms of that they want to slow the game down and play solid defense. Averaging just 71 possessions a game (181st in the country), West Virginia is going to force you to make mistakes on offense and take advantage of said mistakes.

Opponent Player To Watch

Esmery Martinez has rotated with Kirsten Deans as the leading scorer for WVU thus far, but I think she has a bigger impact than Deans. In her most recent game against Sparty, Martinez recorded a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds. Iowa State doesn’t have a ton of weaknesses, but the low post has been a struggle on the defensive end. Martinez looks to score every time she gets the ball down low.

At 6-2, she averages over 12 points and 8 rebounds a game on 56.2% shooting. Just a season ago, she averaged 13.6 points and 11.6 rebounds, good enough to earn an All-Big 12 First Team selection in 2021 as well as a preseason 1st team nod coming into this season.

What Will Happen

Iowa State’s offense will be far hotter than the temperature outside, proving to be too much tempo for the Mountaineers. “That John Denver is full of shit. Clones in fo.”

Iowa State University - 84

West Virginia University - 66

Pick Three

1. 12+ threes
2. Two or more double-doubles
3. Emily Ryan has 8+ assists

Game Notes

The Matchup: No. 14 Iowa State (11-1, 0-0 Big 12) vs. West Virginia (7-3, 0-0 Big 12)

Where: Hilton Coliseum - Ames, Iowa

When: Sunday, Jan. 2 at 3:00 p.m.

TV: ESPNU Talent: Brenda VanLengen, Holly Warlick

Radio: Cyclone Radio Network/Learfield Talent: Noah Wolf, Jamie Steyer Johnson

Live Stats: cyclonestats.com