AMES – On a day when the Iowa State women’s basketball program honored some of its best teams, Cyclone fans were reminded that this season’s group is still capable of doing some pretty special things.
Iowa State dominated Colorado from start to finish Saturday afternoon, picking up an 86-56 victory over the Buffaloes at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones improved to 17-9 on the season and 8-5 in Big 12 Conference play.
Saturday’s win capped off a successful two-win week for the Cyclones after picking up a victory at Cincinnati on Wednesday.
More: Iowa State women’s basketball: Behind the scenes of Cyclones’ 1999-2000 and 2000-01 teams
It was also a moment to celebrate two previous Cyclone teams that won back-to-back Big 12 Conference championships in the 1999-2000 and 2000-1 seasons.
“I told the team before the game, ‘We want to play a game that our returning players could look and go, ‘Man, that looks like our team,'” said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. “And I think they did that.”
The victory was also just what the current Iowa State team needed. Before the Cincinnati game, the Cyclones were coming off a rough week that saw them lose twice against ranked opponents.
But the Cyclones quickly rebounded and capped off this week with an easy win to help improve their NCAA Tournament hopes by avoiding any unexpected losses.
Four players scored in double figures for the Cyclones, including Audi Crooks, who tallied a game-high 33 points and 12 rebounds. Addy Brown added 12 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. The two played a big role as the Cyclones jumped out to an early first-quarter lead and never looked back.
It was a layup by Brown that jumpstarted a 20-2 run that started midway through the first quarter. Crooks tallied six points in the quarter as her team scored the final 12 points of the frame. A layup by Crooks before the buzzer gave the Cyclones a 29-9 lead.
“We’ve had some slow starts in games, so I think that’s been a focus all year is just coming out strong and fast and I think that’s what we did today,” said Iowa State guard Arianna Jackson.
Jackson was a big reason why, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers during the run and finishing with 12 points on the day. She sank a 3-pointer from the corner just before the third-quarter buzzer to give the Cyclones a 61-42 lead.
Iowa State shot 53% (18-of-34) from the field, including 47% (7-15) from 3-point range in the win. Crooks set an Iowa State sophomore season scoring record with 597 points, topping Ashley Joens’ mark of 594 points during the 2020-21 season.
Sydney Harris, who missed the Cyclones’ game Wednesday, returned to the court Saturday. She finished with five points off the bench. Iowa State also got 12 points and five assists from point guard Emily Ryan.
“I definitely thought it was good to see,” Crooks said. “It was huge. A lot of players were contributing in a lot of different ways and that’s what’s really going to help us get W’s here down the road as we approach postseason.”
Former Iowa State player Nyamer Diew scored 15 points for Colorado. It wasn’t enough to slow down the Cyclones, who connected on 11 3-pointers in the win. The lead got so big that Fennelly was able to start emptying his bench with 3:18 left to play with his team leading, 79-51.
“I don’t know that we could have played any better,” Fennelly said. “I really don’t.”
The Cyclones now get some much-needed time off. Iowa State is off for the majority of the week and doesn’t play again until Saturday, Feb. 15 when it hits the road to play at Kansas. But thanks to their successful week, the Cyclones remain right in the postseason picture to possibly earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“We had a lot of motivation ending this 12-day stretch and then obviously just needing a win,” Jackson said. “So, I think going into that, we all had our minds wrapped around that we needed to get this win and we needed to play good.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State women’s basketball: Cyclones, Audi Crooks beat Colorado
