Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

AMES – Iowa State signed a big, talented recruiting class a year ago that included a Miss Iowa Basketball and a McDonald’s All American.

The class was full of players who had excelled in high school and at the upper level of AAU basketball.

Kelsey Joens is one of those players. T

he former City High and West Liberty all-stater entered her freshman season knowing she belonged.

“Kelsey Joens is more than ready to come to this level,” ISU coach Bill Fennelly said. “You just have to know the family she grew up in and the competitive nature of the family.

“She’s a very skilled kid, and I’ve said this many times, she wants to be Kelsey Joens, great player, not Kelsey Joens, the little sister of Ashley Joens. And I think that says a lot about her. She comes in as a freshman and is starting against Iowa in her eighth college game. That says a lot about her too. So, we’re lucky to have her, and I think she’s going to do a lot of great things here.”

Joens is averaging 8.6 points and 5.7 rebounds and has started five of the team’s seven games.

She’s shooting 36 percent behind the arc and scored a career-high 17 against St. Thomas.

Like her sisters she’s a proficient 3-point shooter and an aggressive rebounder.

Joens started her career last summer with the rest of the class, but Joens had a leg up.

Sister Ashley graduated as the school’s career scoring leader and with several national awards to her name.

Sister Aubrey played at ISU for two years and plays at Oklahoma now. Sister Courtney played at Illinois and coached Kelsey her senior year at West Liberty.

So Kelsey’s understanding of her basketball future was far different than a typical freshman.

“I was doing workouts at home just getting ready,” she said. “We got here in June and started doing individual workouts with coaches and small groups, and then we eventually got everyone together.”

ISU had fortuitous timing and was able to use its once-every-four-years foreign trip (Italy and Greece) late in the summer to work the new players into something more cohesive.

“I think it really helped us for our season now to where we actually understand each other, and we know each other on a deeper level on the court and off it too,” Joens said. “It was a whole new team this year, so we learned a lot about each other, like what our tendencies are, what our strengths and weaknesses are on and off the court.”

The Cyclones (4-3) have had some growing pains befitting a team that starts four freshmen.

“The first few games you’re just like all excited, and you’re just going out there to play, and you don’t really focus on little things you really need to focus on because you’re just excited that you finally get to put on the jersey and represent Iowa State,” Joens said.

The Cyclones lost at Drake in their first in-state rivalry game, and then lost to Vanderbilt and Syracuse at a tournament in Las Vegas.

They rebounded by trouncing St. Thomas in Minneapolis and UNC-Wilmington at home.

Rigorous practices followed the Vegas trip before ISU took on the Tommies. Joens said the team had to dig deeper, study film more critically and focus more on defense.

“We dedicated a lot of time and effort and said, ‘We’re not going to be defined as a team that’s going to lose. We’re going to keep on winning,’” Joens said.

“Definitely (defense) has improved over time and also on offense, getting in the right place at the right time and running our plays. It just takes time for everything to click, and I think we’re coming together faster than people expected.”

With senior point guard Emily Ryan out, Joens has shouldered some of those duties along with other teammates.

She said she will gladly take on any role she’s asked to fill. A more gregarious presence than Ashley, Kelsey even sees herself in a leadership role at this young age.

“I see myself as a vocal leader helping people get into the right places,” she said. “You know I’ve been around the program for awhile, haven’t put on the jersey yet until now, but I’ve seen the Iowa State Way and how things are done. So I think that helps me with some of the other people, and then I can contribute passing, shooting, whatever they need me to do.”

Joens and her teammates play host to Iowa Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.

The game is sold out and will be nationally televised by ESPN2. To say she is looking forward to it is an understatement.

“It’s going to be a fun one,” she said. “You know growing up, that’s the game. I always watched and always wanted to watch and be a part of it. I always wanted to be on the court while it was happening.

“So it’s going to be a really cool experience to be out there with everyone.”

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