Mya Babbitt didn’t take long to show why Iowa State went into the transfer portal to get her.
The Kent State transfer came off the bench Sunday and lit up Eastern Illinois from deep, going 4-for-6 from 3-point range as the Cyclones rolled to a 77-61 win at Hilton Coliseum. Babbitt finished with 18 points on just nine field-goal attempts, and 13 of those points came after halftime as Iowa State pulled away from a 33-31 lead.
“That’s what I’m here to do,” said Babbitt, who is now 12-for-21 from beyond the arc this season.
Her shooting has been a major lift for Iowa State through three games, especially with the rest of the team struggling from long range. The Cyclones are just 4-for-38 on 3-pointers outside of Babbitt’s work. That’s part of why head coach Bill Fennelly is still looking for more balance on the perimeter.
“I think the challenge is trying to create offense so that you don’t have just one shooter,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “So they can’t just chase her off her shot. And the one thing Mya’s worked really hard on is that she can get to the basket once in a while, and she kind of makes those funky, running, scooping layups.”
Iowa State did plenty of damage inside as well. Tjasa Turnsek led the way with 20 points, Xiao Zhang scored 14 in less than 13 minutes, and Gift Ezekiel added 12 in under 14 minutes. Alex-Anne Bessette contributed seven points and three assists, and the Cyclones dominated the paint 38-16.
That came despite Eastern Illinois 6-10 post player Abbie Boutllier, who blocked three shots before fouling out.
“We were gonna get blocked if she was in the key, so the goal was to get her out,” Bessette said. “Communication - like we know one high, one low, we dive - but with (Boutilier), if we could keep her away from the rim, that’s what we needed to do.”
Iowa State also cleaned up one of the issues that had shown up in its first two wins. The Cyclones committed only seven turnovers and turned those mistakes into a 15-6 edge in points off turnovers.
“I mean, there (have) been times when we’re going five on zero and we’d have seven turnovers,” said Fennelly, who saw his new point guard, Sienna Harvey, post her second nine-assist game of the season. “So Sienna’s done a nice job of taking care of the ball.”
There was also a small but important sign of progress from Arianna Jackson, who finally connected from 3-point range after being scoreless from deep in the first two games. Jackson is a career 40 percent shooter from long distance, and Fennelly said Iowa State will need that kind of help as the schedule gets tougher.
“We’ve gotta keep learning,” Fennelly said. “We’ve gotta keep getting better.”
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