Iowa State Cyclones’ women’s basketball head coach Bill Fennelly calls a play against Arizona State during the fourth quarter in the Big-12 women’s basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 18, 2026, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
For roughly 35 minutes, the Iowa State women appeared poised to end TCU’s nation-best-tying 40-game home win streak.
Then Horned Frogs star Olivia Miles took over.
The super senior and Notre Dame transfer scored 17 of her game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter to fuel 12th-ranked TCU’s furious five-minute rally as the Cyclones fell, 80-73, Sunday afternoon at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Obviously, Olivia Miles is a great player and made some great plays, but it’s a game we certainly had some opportunities to do great things,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said on the Cyclone Radio Network. “I thought our kids really, really did play hard. I don’t have any problem with that. It’s just (that) we’ve gotta coach better in certain situations.”
The Cyclones (21-7, 9-7 Big 12) led by 13 points with 7:35 remaining, but the Horned Frogs (25-4, 13-3) immediately responded with an 11-2 run to pull within four, and then struck for 14 straight points late in the game to fully secure the win.
TCU grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, while forcing two of the Cyclones’ season-low-tying six turnovers in the final 49 seconds.
“We’ll continue to work on it and, hopefully, even though it’s late in the season, there’s still a chance to get better,” Fennelly saiid.
Star center Audi Crooks led ISU with 22 points, but fouled out with 1:35 remaining. TCU led by just one point when Crooks was relegated to the bench, but went on a one-minute 7-0 run immediately after she drew her fifth foul. Crooks chose to focus on the el positive elements of the game, however.
“We were pretty cohesive for about three and half quarters, so definitely some positives to be taken away from this,” Crooks said.
Point guard Jada Williams notched her seventh double-double this season with 15 points and 11 assists, and but shot just 6-for-23 from the field. She also tied Addy Brown with a team-high seven rebounds and committed zero turnovers in a team-high 39 minutes of game action.
“I think we take away the good things, learn from the bad things and then go into (Wednesday’s final home game of the season against Oklahoma State) just prepared (and) confident,” Williams said.
ISU has won seven of the past nine games and just two regular season games remain in what’s been a topsy-turvy season that saw Brown — who recently returned from injury — miss 11 games, while shooting guard Arianna Jackson missed five games with a knee injury.
Now it’s about maintaining that cohesion Crooks spoke of for 40 minutes instead of 35.
“The challenge is, it needs to happen fast, because we’re in the last week of the regular season,” Fennelly said. “So we’ll see how it goes.”
