LAWRENCE — The Iowa State women’s basketball team was unable to use the momentum it gained from Saturday’s win over No. 3 Baylor against the Kansas Jayhawks on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Cyclones couldn’t overcome an early 15-4 run by the hosts during a 68-64 loss.
Fresh off winning Big 12 Player of the Week honors, Cyclone point guard Nikki Moody finished with 24 points and three assists for and forward Seanna Johnson added 16 points and 10 rebounds, but Kansas got 25 points, 12 boards and five blocks from Chelsea Gardner in the win.
Kansas (15-16, 6-12) out-rebounded Iowa State 43-34 and got nine more points from its bench in the win.
The Jayhawks also were 17-of-21 from the foul line and made two more 3-pointers than the Cyclones.
Iowa State was just 5-of-16 from long range but stayed in the game partially because of a 10-point advantage in points in the paint.
The Cyclones got nine points and seven rebounds from Fallon Ellis and Brynn Williamson chipped in seven points and four rebounds before fouling out.
Chayla Cheadle also fouled out for Kansas but not before she scored 10 points. Lauren Aldridge put in 10 points to go along with seven assists. The Jayhawks led by as many as 11 in the first half.
The loss for Iowa State (18-11, 9-9) gives the Cyclones the No. 5 seed for the upcoming Big 12 Women’s Conference Tournament in Dallas. They will face fourth-seeded Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. Saturday.