AMES, Iowa – Ashley Joens and Inès Nezerwa combined for 45 points on Sunday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum to help lead Iowa State (5-1) past New Orleans (2-5), 71-53. Joens scored a game-high 24 points, while Nezerwa, a senior, poured in a career-high 21 on 8-of-11 from the field to lead Iowa State win its fourth straight.

How It Happened
The Cyclones set a blistering pace to open the game, jumping out to a 9-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest. Nezerwa helped key the fast start, scoring a game-high 10 first-quarter points in her fourth start of the season, including a pair of early buckets inside to force a New Orleans timeout just 2:37 into the game. The Privateers righted the ship late in the quarter to close the gap to 22-15 after 10 minutes of play.

Iowa State’s defense turned up the pressure in the second quarter with a suffocating effort. The Cyclones held New Orleans to just 3-of-12 shooting from the field and forced six turnovers in the second stanza. Iowa State extended its lead to 42-23 at halftime, led by 14 from Nezerwa and 12 from Joens.

The Cyclone offense cooled off from the field in the third quarter, connecting on just 4-of-12 attempts, including 1-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line. However, Iowa State earned 10 free throw attempts in the stanza to supplement the scoring and held a 57-41 lead with 10 minutes to play.

Iowa State would outscore UNO 14-12 in the final quarter, including six from Joens, to cruise to a 71-53 victory.

Players of Note
Ashley Joens put up her fifth 20-point game in six outings this season, finishing with a team-high 24 points, and tied a season-high with five steals on the afternoon. She also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds on the afternoon.

Inès Nezerwa went for double figures for the second time in as many games, scoring a career-high 21 points, 14 of which came in the first half. The senior eclipsed her previous career-high (18) in the third quarter and also chipped in four rebounds, four blocks and three steals in 26 minutes of action.

Rae Johnson chipped in 12 points on a tidy 4-of-7 shooting performance, with all of her field goal attempts coming from 3-point territory.

Up Next
Iowa State hits the road to take on Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network.

(godrakebulldogs.com) ESTERO, Fla. – In a back-and-forth contest that featured 13 lead changes and 12 ties, the Drake University women’s basketball team erased an 11-point, third-quarter deficit to defeat Auburn, 83-82, Sunday afternoon in the team’s final Gulf Coast Showcase game at Hertz Arena.

Sara Rhine scored a team-high 22 points, none bigger than her two free throws with 7.8 seconds left in the game that gave Drake (6-2) the lead for good as it defeated an SEC school for the second-straight season.

Sophomore Maggie Negaard scored a career-high 15 points, including seven in the 11-0 run that carried from the third quarter to the final quarter. Rhine had the other four points in the run. Kierra Collier also scored 15 points. Becca Hittner was the other Bulldog in double-figures with 10 points. Brenni Rose just missed with nine points and she added eight assists. Negaard dished out a career-high four assists.

Negaard’s layup tied the game at 66-66 with 8:58 left in the game, but Auburn (3-4) countered with six consecutive points to lead 72-66. Freshman Sarah Beth Gueldner answered with her fourth three-pointer in the last two games. Rhine followed with a pair of free throws and Hittner made one of two free throws to pull even at 72-all with 3:53 left. Rhine made a layup to give the Bulldogs the lead briefly before Auburn briefly took it back with a three-point play. But Rhine made another layup, Rose made her own and Hittner knocked down her only three-pointer to quickly put Drake up six.

The Tigers though responded with seven-straight points by Daisa Alexander, who finished with 24 points, to lead by one with 15 seconds left after she made two free throws. Drake called a timeout to set up a play from midcourt as Hittner missed a three but Rhine rebounded the miss and was fouled. She calmly knocked down both free throws.

Auburn then called timeout to set up its only play. The Tigers then missed two shots and after the final miss the ball went out of bounds as the game clock hit zero. However, the officials reviewed both possession and time left on the clock. They put 0.5 seconds back on the clock and determined it was Auburn’s basketball. On the inbounds pass, Hittner stole the basketball as the horn sounded for certain to secure the Bulldogs’ win.

Drake outscored Auburn, 44-27, in the paint. The Tigers made 13 three-pointers with four by Alexander and seven by Lauren Hansen, who also finished with 24 points. The Bulldogs’ bench outscored the Tigers’ 27-14 as Monica Burich had four points and seven rebounds.

Following its final game in Florida, Drake returns to the Knapp Center Thursday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. against Waldorf University for the annual “Pack the Knapp” game hosted by The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University. The game is sold out and will feature several thousand local elementary and middle school students for a fun-filled school trip of Bulldogs’ basketball, educational and character development activities inside the Knapp.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Malachi Flynn scored all of his 28 points after halftime to lead San Diego State past Iowa 83-73 as the Aztecs rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit in Las Vegas Invitational championship game on Friday night.

Flynn, the tournament’s MVP, also had five rebounds and four assists while going 9 of 9 from the free-throw line.

Jordan Schakel and Yanni Wetzell each had 14 points for the Aztecs (8-0) — their best start since 2010-11, when they were also was 8-0.

CJ Fredrick led Iowa (5-2) with 16 points. Connor McCaffery added 15 and Joe Toussaint had 13. Luka Garza, who is averaging over 20 points per game, had nine points on 3-for-8 shooting and eight rebounds.

San Diego State took the lead for good on Wetzell layup with 14:01 left after trailing by 16 with 3:05 remaining until halftime.

After the Aztecs led for most of the early portions of the first half, Iowa took the lead on a five-point possession, 20-17, after free throws by Toussaint and Garza. That also started a 22-4 run building Iowa’s largest lead at 37-21, before leading 41-32 at halftime.

This was the first meeting between the teams.

UP NEXT

Iowa: The Hawkeyes play at Syracuse on Tuesday.

San Diego State: The Aztecs play at Colorado State on Thursday.

Final Score: Iowa 63, Washington 70

Game Notes:

• Three Hawkeyes scored in double digits, including senior Kathleen Doyle (17), sophomore Monika Czinano (15), and senior Makenzie Meyer (10).
• Iowa tallied 34 rebounds with Czinano and Doyle leading with seven a piece.
• Doyle led the Hawkeyes in assists (7) and also shot 5-5 from the free throw line.

Up Next: Iowa returns home to take on Clemson in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday, December 4. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. (CT).

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes looked up at the scoreboard late in the third quarter and was stunned to see the Kansas City Chiefs had taken a 31-0 lead over the AFC West rival Oakland Raiders.

“I felt like we’d only scored a couple of times,” he said.

That’s because the Chiefs’ high-powered offense didn’t need to do a whole lot Sunday.

Their defense and the inept Raiders took care of the rest.

Mahomes did throw for a touchdown and run for a touchdown, but it was Juan Thornhill’s pick-6 and a long list of blunders by Derek Carr and Co. that really made the difference.

They allowed Kansas City to cruise to a 40-9 victory and into a two-game lead over the Raiders in the division race.

“That’s what we expected all season long, and you’ve seen it week by week the defense getting better,” Mahomes said, “and the offense just played in the flow of the game. We’ve been in every type of game so far and we’ve been finding ways to win them.”

LeSean McCoy and Darwin Thompson also had TD runs for the Chiefs (8-4), who can clinch a fourth straight division title with a win over New England and an Oakland loss to Tennessee next weekend.

Oakland (6-6) sure didn’t play like a team fighting for a piece of the division lead.

Carr dropped to 0-6 at Arrowhead Stadium with another miserable outing, throwing for 222 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. The Raiders failed to score twice in the red zone, were penalized 12 times for 99 yards, and watched Kansas City put together a 9½-minute drive almost entirely on the ground that soaked up most of the fourth quarter.

When the Raiders finally scored a touchdown in the last minute, the Chiefs blocked the extra point and returned it for two points — one more insult to Oakland in a game full of them.

It was the Raiders’ seventh straight loss in Kansas City, and the continuation of a major late-season spiral. The blowout came on the heels of a 34-3 loss to the Jets last weekend.

Josh Jacobs was Oakland’s lone bright spot, running for 104 yards on 17 carries.

UP NEXT

Oakland: begins a two-game home-stand against the Titans on Sunday.

Kansas City: visits the Patriots in an AFC title game rematch on Sunday.