Iowa State women’s basketball team celebrates with Iowa State Cyclones’ guard Emily Ryan (11) after winning 85-63 over Kansas State in the senior day of the Big-12 women’s basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Sunday, March 2, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The following is a press release from Iowa State Athletics Communications:
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly announced the addition of Emily Ryan to his 2025-26 staff as a graduate assistant Tuesday morning.
“I want to first of all thank our administration for making it possible for Emily Ryan to remain a member of the Cyclone Women’s Basketball family,” said Fennelly. “Emily’s loyalty to Iowa State and her passion for this program are truly special. Her work ethic is as good as I have ever seen. I am confident that she will impact our program as a coach, just as she did as one of the best players to ever play at Iowa State.”
Ryan ended her career as one of the best point guards in Iowa State history, recording top five all-time marks in assists, steals and blocks. She set the program record for assists by over 200 dimes and ranks seventh all-time in NCAA women’s basketball history with 993 assists.
Her 1,632 points rank 11th all-time at ISU and she was just the third NCAA women’s basketball player to record 1,500 assists, 900 assists and 600 rebounds in a career.
The Claflin, Kansas native helped Iowa State to five NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2022 where she was named to the Greensboro Regional All-Tournament Team.
In Iowa State’s run to the 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship crown, Ryan passed out a team-high 15 assists through three games while averaging 9.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
Throughout her five seasons running point for the Cyclones, Ryan was a three-time All-Big 12 honoree, a 2024 Big 12 All-Tournament team member, a three-time Naismith Trophy watch list member, 2025 Wooden Award watch list member and a two-time Nancy Lieberman Award watch list member.
For her excellence both on the court and in the classroom, she was voted a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Third Team Academic All-America in 2024-25. Ryan received her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Iowa State University.
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