Mar 11, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones center Isnelle Natabou (0) reacts with the bench after a play during the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports
KANSAS CITY – Audi Crooks took a 3-pointer midway through the first quarter of Iowa State’s 85-68 Big 12 semifinal win over Oklahoma.
The ball rattled around the inside of the rim, and found its way through the net. It became a highlight of the 16-2 run and from then on, Iowa State never looked back.
I have the utmost respect for Oklahoma,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “That’s a great, great team who beat us really bad at our place and the way we played today — they caught us on a bad day for them and a great day for us.”
Iowa State finished the game shooting 12-23, a 52.2 percent clip, from the 3-point line.
Seemingly every time Oklahoma could use a big shot to get themselves back into the game, the ball ended up in the hands of an Iowa State player and there would be a 3-pointer coming up.
Crooks played the role that Iowa State envisioned her when she was being recruited – being the dominant post that they could continue going back to that would take over a game.
The Algona native finished with 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists on a 12-19 mark from the field.
“Yeah, we matched up really well,” Crooks said. “Like you said, they do put that emphasis on transition. So our guards sprinted back, got to the lane first and then the big’s got back and we just kind of matched up from there. So, credit to the guards for sprinting back and holding it down while we were getting boards or making buckets.”
Crooks provided a spark for Iowa State, jubilantly celebrating after big shots went in, something this team excels with.
They’re remarkably close.
“You asked something that people don’t know about our team,” point guard Emily Ryan said. “I think it’s pretty obvious, but I’m just going to say it anyway. We’re more connected than just a team playing basketball. It’s a lot bigger than that and that’s what makes showing up every day so much fun. You get to enjoy what you’re doing with the people you do it with and that’s why you just want to keep showing up every day and that’s why I’m glad we’ve got another game tomorrow.”
Ryan, the vocal captain on the team, excelled in Monday’s game, scoring 12 points and netting 10 assists in the win.
She finished with the highest plus/minus in the game at +25.
“Obviously, what you see are two — all of our freshmen, especially Addy and Audi, are extremely talented players,” Fennelly said. “You don’t play the way they’re playing at this level without having God-given talent. I say at home every day they were raised right by great parents who taught them to work hard and accept hard coaching and they get to play with Emily Ryan. You put all that stuff together, Iowa State is the beneficiary of that and they show that every single day.”
Addy Brown provided one of the integral moments of Iowa State’s win. The freshman canned a three in the closing seconds of the second quarter to give the team a 14-point lead.
She finished with 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists in the game.
“I think anytime you can hit a big bucket going into the end of the quarter or the end of the half it’s huge for momentum because you’re going to be sitting on that last play for a while,” Ryan said. “It was a huge hit by her and just a lot of excitement. That’s the fun thing about this team is that everyone was excited about it, and everyone was more excited about it than even Addy and she is the one that hit the shot.”
Ryan joked about Brown’s excitement in the big moment.
Oklahoma is a team that’s known for scoring in bunches and making transition 3-pointers that can quickly swing the momentum in a game.
However, OU scored just two points in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
“I thought our defensive effort was really, really solid and I thought A.J. (freshman point guard Arianna Jackson) was tremendous,” Fennelly said. “We ask A.J. to do a lot and I know it looks like Payton scored a ton of points and, she’s a great player, but I thought A.J. did a great job on her. And we didn’t give up as many offensive rebounds as we did at home and that helped as well.”
The entirety of Iowa State’s rotation contributed on the stat sheet.
Arianna Jackson corralled four points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals that helped Iowa State limit transition opportunities for Oklahoma.
Isnelle Natabou had four points early in the game, kickstarting the 16-2 run that Iowa State went on.
The recent play from the team’s role players has elevated Iowa State into a different team than it was when Oklahoma left Ames with its own blowout win.
“Our bench was tremendous,” Fennelly said. “Everyone that played — I mean, we played nine kids and you look out there and you’re up 10, 12, and playing great and there’s 5 freshmen in the game in the second quarter. I thought Nelle was phenomenal for the minutes she played. We really wanted to play a lot of kids in the first half and get everyone to halftime with some fresh legs because we knew they were coming. Our bench continues to impact the game and I thought all of them did that today, all four of them. They couldn’t have been better.”
Iowa State will hope to see more of the same in Tuesday’s Big 12 championship game. The Cyclones will face either No. 3 Kansas State or No. 2 Texas at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
