DES MOINES – No. 12 Iowa State (6-0, 0-0 Big 12) downed Drake (1-3, 0-0 MVC) on Wednesday night, 87-60, in the Cyclones’ first road test of the season.
The Cyclones got out to a 16-0 start in the game and never looked back in the dominant victory. The team shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc and was led by Audi Crooks with 22 points. Addy Brown tallied 12 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in the game, while Reagan Wilson recorded a career-high 11 points.
The Cyclones wasted no time getting things going, as Arianna Jackson would hit a three-pointer less than 15 seconds into the game. Jackson, with the help of layups from Addy Brown and Audi Crooks, then drained three more triples to help the Cyclones get out to a 16-0 lead before Drake would get on the board. Sydney Harris joined the party, cashing in two threes of her own to extend the lead to 25-5 after the first quarter.
Iowa State would once again come out firing to start the quarter while maintaining its lockdown defense, and two baskets each from Brown and Crooks pushed the lead to 33-7 and forced a Drake timeout. Jada Williams and Reagan Wilson would combine for 11 of the next 19 Cyclone points as the two teams traded baskets, and ISU would take a 52-18 lead into the halftime locker room.
The start of the third quarter was Drake’s turn to come out firing, as the Bulldogs scored 14-straight points to cut the lead to 20 and force a Cyclone timeout. Crooks would put an end to the run out of the timeout with a layup, and Brown would add some insurance with a three-pointer to extend the lead back to 57-32. The two teams would once again trade baskets to end the third quarter, and the Cyclones would take a 68-47 lead into the final period.
Wilson knocked down two more threes at the start of the fourth quarter to earn a career-high 11 points after making her first four field goals and three three-pointers of the night. The Cyclones tallied nine more points to close the game and seal the 87-60 victory.
Top Performer
Audi Crooks totaled 22 points in the victory on 7-for-11 shooting, and added two boards and three assists in 25 minutes.
Up Next
The Cyclones return to Hilton Coliseum to take on Mercyhurst on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Notes
Iowa State women’s basketball’s all-time record moves to 876-678 (.564) and 639-325 (.663) in the Bill Fennelly era.
Fennelly’s career record moves to 805-378 (.680) in his 38-year career.
Scoring a game-high 22 points, Audi Crooks extended her double-figure scoring streak to 73 games. She has scored in double digits in every collegiate game except for her Cyclone debut in 2023.
Crooks has scored 1,609 points in her career, the 12th most by a Cyclone. She is 11 points from matching Alison Lacey’s 11th all-time mark of 1,620 career points.
Addy Brown followed up her triple-double performance against Norfolk State with a double-double, recording 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds tonight against Drake.
Arianna Jackson finished with a season-high 12 points, all scored in the first quarter off her 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
Iowa State had six score in double figures tonight (Arianna Jackson, Jada Williams, Addy Brown, Audi Crooks, Reagan Wilson, Sydney Harris), the first time six or more Cyclones have finished with 10-plus since Dec. 20, 2023 against UNI (Hannah Belanger, Addy Brown, Audi Crooks, Isnelle Natabou, Emily Ryan, Kelsey Joens).
