Iowa State Cyclones’ guard Arianna Jackson (2) attempts to steal the ball from Colorado Buffaloes’s forward Lior Garzon (12) during the first quarter in the Big-12 women’s basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — Arianna Jackson dove to the floor, desperate to corral the steal.
She settled for a forced turnover instead.
The Iowa State sophomore guard often says her defense feeds her offense, but Saturday against Colorado it was the other way around.
Jackson drilled three of her first four 3-point attempts, then made multiple hustle plays as the Cyclones blew out the Buffaloes, 86-56, before a crowd of 10,081 at Hilton Coliseum.
“I think hitting shots early definitely builds a little confidence,” said Jackson, who’s 8-for-14 from 3-point range in the past three games for ISU (17-9, 8-5 Big 12). “But if the ball’s on the ground, I’m definitely gonna go for it.”
Jackson scored in double figures for the second straight game. Audi Crooks led the Cyclones with 33 points and 12 rebounds on ultra-efficient 15 of 20 field goal shooting. Addy Brown added 12 points and 11 assists and Emily Ryan had 12 points and five assists — giving ISU four players in double figures in the convincing win.
“This team isn’t made up of one, or two, or three people,” Crooks said. “It’s made up of many more than that and every person contributes. Those games when they do and it shows up on the stats board, that’s really huge because at the end of the day it’s not about two or three people having obscene numbers.”
Not anymore. Not on this two-game win streak, anyway. Cyclones not named Audi Crooks or Audi Brown combined for 45 points in the road win at Cincinnati and 41 points on Saturday as ISU moved past Colorado (16-7, 7-5) in the conference standings.
The Cyclones also honored two of the best teams in program history — the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 teams — at mid-court during the game.
“I don’t know if we could have played any better,” said ISU head coach Bill Fennelly, whose team outrebounded the Buffaloes, 38-29, and outscored them 44-22 in the paint. “I really don’t. I told the team before the game we want to play a game that our returning players could look at and go, ‘Man, that looks like our team,’ and I think they did that.”
Fennelly also said the Cyclones have looked like a much-improved team with former West Liberty star Kelsey Joens in the starting lineup. The 5-11 sophomore guard scored five points, grabbed a team-high two offensive rebounds and sprinkled in four assists. In other words, she did a little bit of everything while sparking ISU with effort-based plays, much like Jackson does.
“Her and Kelsey, they just play really, really hard,” Fennelly said.
Jackson, Fennelly added, has “an extra heartbeat” and “loves Iowa State.” Joens, he noted, “makes plays no one on (the) team makes.”
“(She’s) flying through to get a rebound, or getting a loose ball, and can make the occasional shot,” Fennelly said. “You need people like that and most players don’t want to be that person. I want to be the guy that comes and sits in front of (the media). But Kelsey just loves to compete. She does what we ask her to do. She takes really hard coaching and she gets coached really hard. The other thing is, her teammates have a lot of trust in her, and I think that goes a long way.”
The Cyclones will enjoy a little time off before returning to the court next Saturday at Kansas. Fennelly said winning the last two games may have “saved the season.” Now his team is positioned to build off those efforts and not only make the NCAA Tournament, but potentially make some noise in it, as well.
“When they play the way they’re playing, we’ll line up and compete with a lot of people,” Fennelly said.
