Iowa State Cyclones’ forward Addy Brown (24) shoots the ball over BYU Cougars forward Kendra Gillispie (35) during the third quarter in the Big-12 women’s basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — The word of the month for Iowa State’s Addy Brown is “aggression.”
The 6-2 guard/forward from Derby, Okla., is unselfish to a fault, and so eager to involve all of her teammates that she veers off from her ongoing mission to simply shoot the ball more.
So she’s working on that — and it showed on Wednesday night.
Brown ripped off 11 straight points in a decisive second quarter, helping the Cyclones shake free of BYU and eventually coast to an 82-59 win at Hilton Coliseum.
“I’ver never really forced shots,” said Brown, who scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished out seven assists as ISU (14-7, 5-3 Big 12) won for the fourth time in its past five games. “Even in high school, my coaches would constantly ask me to shoot the ball more. Well, if I see an open man, I’m not gonna force shots up. So if I see an open man, I’m gonna get you the ball. And I think sometimes I’[m looking to do that first instead of, ‘OK, maybe I am open.’ So I think that’s kind of where that shift has been.”
Audi Crooks led the Cyclones with 24 points — 12 of which came in the third quarter. ISU outscored the Cougars, 28-11, during that decisive 10-minute stretch, and two of Crooks’ four field goals in the third quarter came off of Brown assists.
“She really enjoys throwing the ball to Audi,” Fennelly said. “And Audi should go home every night and (go), like, ‘I’m the luckiest post player in the history of the sport because I’ve got (point guard) Emily Ryan and Addy Brown throwing me the ball.”
Ryan finished with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and a game-high four steals. The senior standout — back after missing one game because of an illness — shot just 2-for-9 from the field but made her trademark winning plays on both ends of the floor.
“We talk about (not going) for steals,” said Fennelly, whose team had a season-high 11 takeaways. “You get them because you play hard, you’re in the right place, you know the scouting report — and Emily Ryan checks off all those boxes.”
Guard Sydney Harris added 11 points on 2-for-3 3-point shooting and fellow guard Kelsey Joens drilled both of her shots from beyond the arc. The Cyclones outshot BYU (10-8, 1-6) 50 percent to 25.8 percent in the second half, and 28-to-7 in points off turnovers in the game.
“That was really huge for us because I think (early on) our defense fueled our offense,” said Crooks, who’s scored 20 or more points in nine of the past 11 games. “We were able to get some transition baskets and and-ones before they were able to get their defense set.”
Brown provided two of those and-ones — along with a 3-point shot — during her personal 11-point flurry that allowed ISU to crawl out of an early 15-4 hole, take the lead, and pile on the points as the game wore on.
“We were struggling offensively and I couldn’t get anything to fall,” Brown said. “So kind of you see that (first shot) go in and just sticking with it — it’s always exciting to see that I can get the and-one, and I think after that we started to go, so it definitely was a turning point.”
So expect the term “aggression” to remain the operative one for Brown, who Fennelly said practiced so well on Tuesday that she’d be the best player in the Big 12 if she can routinely replicate that behind-the-scenes performance.
“It was incredible,” Fennelly said. “She can just do so many things for our team, and wants to do so many things for our team. (She) just fills up her stats sheet and was tremendous (Wednesday).”
