Photo(s) of the Week: Sweet 16

On Sunday the Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I women's tournament for the first time since the 2009-2010 season. It was a surprisingly easy victory over the Georgia Lady Bulldogs that followed a surprisingly difficult victory over the UT-Arlington Mavericks on Friday. It also gave them a school record 28th win on the year. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the game.

Morgan Kane. Source

Ashley Joens. Source

And easily my favorite photo from the night:

Ashley Joens & Emily Ryan. Source

A much happier final game at Hilton than the senior night debacle vs Baylor.

100 blog posts

This is my 100th blog post and I've been debating what it should be about for the past week. Well, I've figured that it should be about the thing I've cared about for most of my life.

It's been a record breaking season for the Iowa State women's basketball program. They've won 7 Big 12 Conference road games, swept 7 out of 9 Big 12 opponents, won 14 conference games and 25 regular season games overall, which are all school records.

Individually it has also been a record breaker. Senior Ashley Joens now owns the school career scoring record and is staring down the career record for scoring average among other records. (Fun fact: I have the same birthday and last name as she does but I assure you that she is significantly better at basketball than I am.) Sophomore Emily Ryan continues reaching for every assist record at Iowa State while fellow sophomore Lexi Donarski seems to be the heir apparent to Ashley. Statistically Morgan Kane won't blow you away but together with Portuguese transfer Beatriz Jordão they have combined to make a serviceable duo in the post.

They wrapped up the regular season this past Saturday with a win over West Virginia University and now look forward to the Big 12 tournament this coming weekend. Hopefully they'll win a couple of games there and in the NCAA tourney the weekend after.

Updated book list and college sports #2

Completed:

• The 9/11 Commission Report
• Columbine by Dave Cullen
• Caught in the Revolution: Witnesses to the Fall of Imperial Russia by Helen Rappaport
• World War I: The Definitive Visual History
• World War II: The Definitive Visual History
• The Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore
• The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History
• The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport
• The Race to Save the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport

In progress:

• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• The Civil War: A Visual History

On the docket:

• The American Revolution: A Visual History
• The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power by Max Boot (A book I bought between 8th and 9th grades in July 2003 but never actually read.)
• The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport (Once I obtain a copy.)
• What If? and What If? 2 - A series of essays by historians on what might have been.

As for sports, well, there are none. Over the course of a few hours on March 12th the entire sporting world shut down which means my beloved Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball team never got to play in the Big 12 Tournament or the NCAA tournament. Fortunately the Twister Sisters got probably the best consolation prize of any team by beating the second-ranked and defending national champion Baylor Lady Bears on senior night, March 8th. A back and forth affair that ended when Ashley Joens was fouled with .1 second on the clock in a tied game. She hit the first free throw to bring Iowa State their first win over Baylor in 5 years.

Ashley Joens being fouled in the act of shooting

And, yes, it was a foul, ESPN. It was also unseasonably warm at 70 F so all around it was a great day.