Addy Brown goes up for a shot during her 41-point performance in Iowa State’s 96-88 win over Arizona State in Thursday’s Big 12 Tournament game. Photo Courtesy Iowa State Athletics Communications//Luke Lu.
KANSAS CITY – Arizona State took the first lead on Iowa State in Thursday’s Big 12 Tournament second round game, but it wouldn’t take long for Addy Brown to get it back for the Cyclones — and then some.
Brown hit three triples in the opening seven minutes to put Iowa State ahead, and the Cyclones never looked back in the fast-paced 96-88 win at the T-Mobile Center.
“Tonight just happened to be my night, and I took advantage of that,” Brown said. “You wait on moments like that, and I think my teammates were excited for me. They were finding me in the right places, too, so shout out to them.”
The sophomore forward led Iowa State in scoring with 41 points, setting a new career high as well as a program record for most points in a Big 12 Tournament game. She added six rebounds and four assists.
Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly remarked that it didn’t look too bad for a second team All-Big 12 player, poking a bit at the league awards that were released earlier this week.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Brown said. “It hasn’t really set in yet… like coach (Fennelly) said to enjoy what we did as a team and kind of just have this moment, and then tomorrow we start preparing for a different team.”
Although it ended as an 8-point game, the final score wasn’t indicative of what Brown and the Cyclones put the Sun Devils through.
At one point in the third quarter, Iowa State owned a 20-point lead on Arizona State, which ended the game with the five players that didn’t foul out of the game.
Sydney Harris helped the Cyclones get out to a double-digit lead early with three first quarter makes from deep, herself.
Her 12 points gave Iowa State separation, while Audi Crooks gave the Cyclones’ 20 points before fouling out herself.
Overall, Iowa State put the Sun Devils away early and didn’t need to look back, even if Fennelly wishes his team had done a bit more.
“We’ve got to finish,” Fennelly said. “It was eerily similar to the game we had down there. They just keep playing. … Everyone talks about finishing, but for us it was just taking care of the ball.”
Iowa State will return to the court Friday in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals to face No. 2 Baylor at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
“Baylor just defensively overwhelmed us when we played them a couple of weeks ago,” Fennelly said. “We’ve got to match their physicality, handle the ball and obviously, we have to shoot the ball a lot better than we did down there. But it seems like it’s March in the Big 12 tournament, and we get to see Baylor again.
“They’re a great team – one of the best teams in the country playing that way,” Fennelly said. “We’ll figure out something. I’m glad we have to worry about it.”
