Addy Brown's steady return to health buoys the Iowa State women

AMES — Frustration mounted as star Iowa State guard/forward Addy Brown sat out 11 straight games while dealing with a painful lower-body injury.

And that sense of unease hasn’t fully gone away even though she’s preparing for her fourth game back in the starting lineup.

“It’s tough,” said Brown, who will return to her home state for Sunday’s 1 p.m. regular-season finale between the Cyclones (21-8, 9-8) and Kansas State (15-15 8-9) in Manhattan, Kan. “You come back and your confidence is low because you haven’t been out there. So that’s something I’m just trying to get back to.”

One of the reasons Brown’s frustration lingers is Brown — as competitive a player as you’ll find — can’t yet fully conform to her well-established high on-court standards. She continues to get her game legs back while undergoing daily rehab that’s enabled her to play up to 25 minutes a game. It’s a tedious but necessary process and Brown knows that.

“It makes a difference,” she said. “Just staying on top of the little things, it’s kind of just what I have to do to be on the court.”

Even a limited version of the versatile Brown makes ISU more formidable as it seeks a regular season sweep of the Wildcats. The Cyclones held off Kansas State, 76-72, two weeks ago at Hilton while Brown sat out her 11th game, and a win on Sunday could help them avoid playing on the opening day in the Big 12 tournament, which runs from Wednesday through Sunday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

“It doesn’t matter to me where we’re seeded,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “Especially this year in our league, because everyone’s so jammed up, and I don’t think there’s a team in out league we can’t beat.”

That’s the good news — and that’s largely because Brown is back and getting healthier every day.

As for the bad news …

“I don’t think there’s a team in our league that can’t beat us,” Fennelly said. “And I think a lot of coaches would probably say the same thing.”

But back to Sunday, which obviously draws the Cyclones’ immediate focus. Kansas State’s physical style of play could bother ISU as it did in Ames, but point guard Jada Williams is determined to stymie those efforts.

“This is definitely a big game for us momentum-wise and confidence-wise,” she said.

Especially for Brown, who’s averaging 12.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists. She’s not near 100 percent from a health standpoint — and she’s OK with that. For now, at least.

“Just really working on my patience,” said Brown, who recorded her first career triple-double earlier this season. “This whole process had taught me that, when I was finally back, to just be able to realize I’m not gonna be where I left off at, and that’s OK. Just giving myself grace — and the coaches have done a good job of reminding me of that.”

Comments: robgray18@icloud.com