Iowa State women's basketball struggles to get going offensively in loss to Iowa

IOWA CITY – For all the success the Iowa State women’s basketball team has had this season, one glaring problem has emerged for the Cyclones. Despite all the scoring they brought back and all the experience they returned, their offense has gone stagnant at times and failed to produce for long stretches.

Those problems re-emerged Wednesday.

Iowa State struggled to get baskets all night and it cost the Cyclones mightily with another loss. The eighth-ranked Cyclones suffered a 70-57 loss to No. 13 Iowa before an announced crowd of 13,802 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Cyclones have lost two of their last three games and fell to 6-2.

"We're capable of making those shots," said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. "We're just not doing it and we haven't done it for a while."

Poor shooting has become a unexpected development for an Iowa State team that brought back many of its key contributors from last season's Sweet 16 team, including Ashley Joens, the program's all-time leading scorer. The Cyclones' struggles were particularly evident (34% field goals) in an ugly loss to North Carolina last month.

Iowa State has been able to overcome its errant shots in some of its other games this season. But not against Iowa, as the Cyclones shot just 36% (20-for-55) from the field including just 33% (9-of-27) from 3-point range.

Four of Iowa State's five starters failed to reach their season average in scoring Wednesday. Joens shot 5-of-13 from the field and finished with 15 points.

"Missing shots can get in your head but you've got to keep on playing through it," Joens said. "We kind of went in and out, it seemed like."

The problems started early for Iowa State, which missed its first seven shots of the night before Stephanie Soares swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

The Cyclones connected on just one field goal in their first 14 attempts. Iowa State closed with an 8-0 run to close out the first quarter. That was one of the few times Iowa State got into any sort of rhythm offensively.

Another run came in the second quarter when the Cyclones hit four shots in a row and rolled to an 11-0 run to take a 26-20 lead. The Cyclones went into halftime with a five-point advantage.

But the baskets stopped falling and the lead didn’t last, with Iowa outscoring Iowa State 27-8 in the third quarter. The Cyclones shot just 33.3% (4-for-12) in the quarter and never recovered.

"We'll learn from it," Fennelly said. "We'll get better."

Iowa State had a shot while it slowed down Caitlin Clark

Iowa State did a good job containing Iowa All-American Caitlin Clark. The Dowling Catholic alum entered the game averaging 28.2 points per game but was held in check early on by Iowa State guard Lexi Donarski.

Clark missed her first nine shots of the game and tallied just six points in the first half. She also struggled last season against Donarski, Iowa State’s top defender, who has been tasked with guarding her the last two years.

"I thought we defended pretty well all night except for the end of the shot clock," Fennelly said.

Iowa State's issues on offense extended all the way to the free-throw line

Most of Iowa State’s wounds were self-inflicted. Among the problems: free throws. The Cyclones are among the best free-throw shooting teams in the country but made just 8-of-16 from the foul line Wednesday night.

At one point, Iowa State missed eight free throws in a row.

"I think my grandson Will's team had eight misses in a row once," Fennelly joked.

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State women's basketball goes cold on offense in loss at Iowa