No. 13 Iowa State beats UMass to win Gulf Coast Showcase

ESTERO, Fla. (AP) — Ashley Joens had 23 points including a critical 3-pointer late, Lexi Donarski also scored 23 points and No. 13 Iowa State blew most of a 21-point lead before beating Massachussets 76-71 on Sunday night to win the Gulf Coast Showcase.

Iowa State (7-0), which played its third game in as many nights and its fourth in a week, nearly ran out of gas with only seven available players — four seeing at least 39 minutes of action on Saturday and at least 106 minutes over the last three days.

Ber’Nyah Mayo and Destiney Philoxy made back-to-back 3-pointers to give UMass a 6-4 lead but Ashley Joens converted a three-point play 52 seconds later and the Cyclones led the rest of the way.

Sam Breen had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Destiney Philoxy added 15 points and six assists and Angelique Ngalakulondi scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Mayo finished with 13 points.

Aubrey Jones, Ashley's younger sister, hit a 3-pointer to make it 21-12 with 9:30 left in the first half and then hit three more 3s in an 11-0 run over about 2 1/2 minutes and Donarski hit a 3-pointer to open the third quarter and give the Cyclones their biggest lead of the game at 48-27.

UMass (7-1) scored the next 10 points and then chipped away at its deficit until Philoxy hit a 3-pointer to pull the Minutewomen within a point with 2:59 to play. Ashley Joens answered with a 3 and they got no closer.

Aubrey Joens made 5 of 9 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points.

___

More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports