Crooks leads Iowa State to road win over Kansas State

Audi Crooks eyes likely widened as she pursued the box score on Sunday.

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But one set of numbers sprang off the page for Iowa State’s All-American junior center after her 41-point, 13-rebound performance fueled the Cyclones’ dominant 93-79 regular season-closing triumph at Kansas State.

That would be her 9-for-9 performance from the free throw line.

“I think this was probably my best game this year as far as just looking across the board, but I was excited about those free throws,” Crooks said on the Cyclone Radio Network after helping her team secure a first-round bye in this week’s Big 12 Tournament. “Me and (assistant) coach (Jodi) Steyer have been working on those a lot.”

All of ISU’s team has been working on rebounding in the wake of two straight losses — and it showed on Sunday. The Cyclones (22-8, 10-8 Big 12) outrebounded the Wildcats (15-16, 8-10) by a staggering margin of 30 to 6 in the second half. Standout guard/forward Addy Brown grabbed a game-high 14 boards to go with Crooks’ 13, and guards Jada Williams and Reese Beaty combined for 11 rebounds, as well.

“We worked on that a lot,” said Williams, who added 23 points and nine assists while also being perfect at the foul line (7-for-7). “We put the ring in the basket (at practice), where there (are) only misses (and) you’ve got to get rebounds. … Those are hustle plays that when we make those, we usually win the game.”

Williams also had eight of ISU’s 24 turnovers, but those miscues were offset by the robust rebounding margin and going 23 of 24 from the foul line as a team.

“It’s the free throws and the rebounding that have been killing us,” the Cyclones’ 31st-year head coach Bill Fennelly said. “And today, you get to the free throw line because you play hard. You rebound because you play hard. I mean, we scored 93 points and had 24 turnovers. … But when the effort is there because of rebounding and free throws, that can change things.”

ISU completed the regular season sweep of the Wildcats and notched its fourth conference road win of the season. The Cyclones trailed by six points at halftime, but Crooks took over for the final 20 minutes, scoring 28 of her 41 points after the break while grabbing 9 of her 13 rebounds.

“Audi was just incredible,” Fennelly said of Crooks, who notched her fourth 40-point game of the season and fifth in her career. “Might have been as good of an all around game as she’s played.”

That’s important, of course, as the calendar veers into March. It’s also natural for Crooks, who has scored 25-plus points in eight of 12 career games she’s played in that month. And Brown — who also had a career-high-tying three blocks — played 30 minutes in her fourth game back from a lengthy absence due to injury. So her best days this season should be ahead of her as she continues to get back into game shape.

“Coach ‘Fen’ said it best: ‘You’re gonna hate to see us in Kansas City,’” Crooks said of the Cyclones’ Big 12 Tournament foes. “I think we’re motivated, we’re fired up, and we’re finally putting all the pieces together.”

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