Aubrey Joens Following Older Sister Ashley to Iowa State
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
As long as Aubrey Joens can remember her goal has been to play Division I basketball.
For more than a year the sharpshooting City High junior has had an idea of which school would help her reach that goal.
On Thursday Joens followed her gut and her older sister Ashley to Iowa State giving a verbal commitment to the Cyclones.
“They were at the top of my choices for a while and I was always kind of leaning towards them but I wanted to keep my options open,” Joens said. “After the summer ended I knew that was where I wanted to go. So why wait?”
Joens averaged 12.9 points and 2.8 rebounds per game last season as a sophomore helping City High to a 25-1 record and a Class 5A runner-up finish.
The 5-foot-9 guard picked up an offer from the Cyclones last summer after averaging 12.1 points and five rebounds per game as a freshman
Joens enjoyed a strong summer on the AAU circuit helping All-Iowa Attack win a national title but wasn’t interested in stringing out the recruiting process any longer.
“I’ve always liked Iowa State, so I didn’t feel like I needed to wait any longer,” Joens said. “I liked the coaches and the players there and the style of play. I think it’s really cool that they get 10,000 fans to come to their games, I think that’s a great atmosphere to play in.”
Aubrey will become the third Joens sister to play Division I basketball.
Older sister Courtney is entering her junior season at Illinois and Ashley will be a freshman at Iowa State.
As the recruiting process began to pick up for Aubrey the past two seasons she considered avoiding playing with her older sisters in college but said she isn’t concerned with being known as Ashley’s sister at Iowa State.
“At one point I did want to go my own way and I didn’t really want to go there just to be Ashley’s sister but after a while I knew I could still be who I am there,” Aubrey Joens said. “I can be my own player at Iowa State even with Ashley there.”
A career 35 percent 3-point shooter, Aubrey Joens enters her junior season with 99 made 3-point goals in her career.
She shot 36 percent from 3-point range last season while leading the Little Hawks with 54 3-pointers.
Joens spent the summer working on the other aspects of her game and that attracted a number of suitors including Creighton and Michigan among others.
“I definitely took strides this summer, I was able to attack the rim more instead of just shooting,” Joens said. “I rebounded way more, it was definitely a good summer.”
Playing alongside Ashley the past two seasons Aubrey helped City High to a 47-3 record and a pair of state tournament appearances over the past two seasons.
In the end the allure of playing with her sister for two more seasons was too much for Aubrey Joens to pass up.
“Playing with her is really fun and we get along really well,” Aubrey Joens said. “She is a role model to me so I’d like to play with her.”