MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Hollywood has certainly done its fair share of “vs.” movies in recent years — “Freddie vs. Jason,” “Batman vs. Superman,” and “Godzilla vs. Kong” is set to hit theaters this spring.
On Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum, the matchup between No. 21 West Virginia and Iowa State was heralded “Ashley Joens vs. Kyrse Gondrezick, the two leading scorers in the Big 12.
While many movies of the like end in draws with no clear winner, Gondrezick outscored Joens 24-17, and more importantly, led the Mountaineers to a critical 65-56 victory over the Cyclones — their ninth straight win.
Gondrezick is on one of the hottest streaks of her college career, which she jokingly admitted after the game has had its ups and downs, as she’s scored in double figures in 10-straight games and scored over 20 points in 11 of WVU’s (14-2, 8-2 Big 12) 16 contests.
“I’m enjoying myself right now, and the fact that we’re winning … it helps,” Gondrezick said. “Playing in the Big 12 last year gave me that experience to know what I’m looking forward to — reading the defense.
“But I’m enjoying myself right now and I’m having fun.”
Always known as a spot shooter, Gondrezick is expanding her offensive game and has shown the ability to get to the rim. She said her teammates have full trust in whatever shot she’s willing to take, and her head coach, Mike Carey, agrees, and a big part of that was losing 45 pounds in the offseason.
“Now that she’s in better shape, now she can get downhill a lot quicker,” Carey said. “She could always get downhill, but it wasn’t as quick as it is right now. She uses picks as well as anybody I’ve seen.”
Gondrezick also played all 40 minutes, which is becoming the norm over the course of WVU’s streak.
Joens certainly had her moments for the Cyclones (11-7, 7-4) , leading the team in points while also pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out four assists.
As a team, ISU shot 39 3-pointers, the most an opponent has ever shot against the Mountaineers, but only made 28% from beyond the arc. Cold stretches doomed the Cyclones, especially down the stretch — after pulling within six points with 3:11 to go, they scored just one basket the remainder of the game.
“We knew we couldn’t get beat on defense because they would get open 3s if we helped out on ball-side or on skip passes,” said point guard Madisen Smith, who broke out of a scoring slump with 15 points. “We just focused on holding our feet and getting to the spot.”
Kari Niblack also scored in double figures for WVU with 11 points and led the team in rebounding with nine.
The win added a little cushion for the Mountaineers in the Big 12 standings, sitting in sole possession of second place behind No. 8 Baylor. Next, WVU will travel to Texas to face the Longhorns, who the Mountaineers beat 92-58 on Jan. 9 at the WVU Coliseum. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. Saturday on the Longhorn Network.
Wednesday’s game was also the first time this season fans could attend a women’s basketball game as 1,500 fans were allowed in.
“It was great having a crowd tonight,” Carey said. “Hopefully, the next game we can have more people in here, but it was great having a crowd and I want to thank everybody that came out tonight.”
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