Iowa State Cyclones’ forward Addy Brown (24) gets congratulation for Iowa State Cyclones’ women’s basketball head coach Bill Fennelly after a triple-double against Norfolk State during the fourth quarter in the regular season NCAA Women’s basketball on Nov. 16, 2025 at Hilton Coliseum, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — Addy Brown had nearly exhausted her pre-allotted minutes. Time was running out on her latest quest for a first career triple-double on Sunday against Norfolk State, but with 9:29 remaining in a 98-52 win, the Cyclone star leaped for a defensive rebound to complete the rare feat — but smaller guard Arianna Jackson almost came down with the historic board instead.
“It was pretty funny,” said Brown, who scored 11 points, dished out 11 assists and got that 10th rebound in her 26th minute on the floor. “I was trying not to laugh because (Jackson) was like, ‘Sorry.’ Obviously I didn’t really mean to run her over and she didn’t know that was coming — but it’s funny, too, because she’s my roommate, so her mom was giving her some crap.”
The 9,145 fans at Hilton Coliseum rose for a standing ovation. Her delighted teammates congratulated her with high fives and body bumps, not knowing that with just 23 seconds remaining in the 16th-ranked Cyclones’ (5-0) blowout victory, she’d be congratulating another teammate on a career-best accomplishment.
That would be backup forward Alisa Williams, who scored a last-minute putback basket to cap ISU’s win and cement her first career double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.
“That just basically made my day,” said Williams, who also saw the fans shower her with boisterous support. “It just reminded me of why I came here to Iowa State. It’s literally the people, the fans. That’s not gonna be my typical (game), but to know that they care that happened for me today just makes me realize they love me as much as I love them.”
Sunday produced nothing but smiles for the Cyclones, who drained 10 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 30 assists on 31 made field goals.
“There were times we got a great shot and people had a shot and no one would have said a word if they took it, but they made one more pass,” Cyclones head coach Bill Fennelly said. “Those are things that every coach loves to see.”
All-American center Audi Crooks notched her 20th career double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. She went 8-for-8 from the field and every ISU player who logged minutes took between three and nine shots. Sydney Harris scored 15 points and went 7-for-7 from the free throw line, and Kenzie Hare added 14 points on 4-for-7 3-point shooting.
“There were gonna be some looks,” said Fennelly, whose team has not allowed an opponent to shoot better than 32 percent from the field this season. “(Jackson) hit a couple early. Kenzie hit a couple. The three people (who) have struggled — and they’ve struggle din practice — are Syd, Kenzie and AJ, and all three of them shot it great today, so I’m sure they’ll come back to practice on Tuesday a little bit happier than when they left this morning.”
No one left Sunday’s game happier than Brown, who said she’d been hoping to record a triple-double her entire college career, but had missed achieving that goal narrowly several times. One oh-so-close-near-miss came last season in her native Kansas. Brown scored 17 points, doled out 10 assists but finished one rebound shy of a triple-double in ISU’s 93-80 win over the Jayhawks last February.
“It’s haunted me,” she said.
Then Brown smiled.
“That would have been special because it was in Kansas,” the Derby, Kan., native said. “But obviously it didn’t work out that way and we gut the (win) there, which is all that matters. So everything happens for a reason. (It) just happened a little bit later and it was really cool to celebrate it in Hilton with the best fans.”
Just four ISU players in program history have recorded a triple-double. Nikki Moody (the latest in 2014), Alison Lacey (who’s married to Cyclones men’s head coach T.J. Otzelberger), and Jane Lobenstein.
“It’s tough to do,” Brown said. “I’ve only been able to do it one other time, in high school, and that’s it, so to be able to hit that in college is something special. My teammates kind of made it easy on me. … So it was cool. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was little.”
