Iowa State Cyclones’ guard Arianna Jackson (2) takes a three-point shot over UCF Knights’ guard Samari Bankhead (1) during the third quarter in the Big-12 women’s basketball on Jan. 31, 2026, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.(Photo: Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune)

Tommy Birch | Des Moines Register

AMES – When Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly walked into the locker room at Hilton Coliseum following his team’s win over UCF on Jan. 31, he gave an order to Cyclones guard Arianna Jackson.

After a big offensive performance against the Knights, Jackson was selected for the postgame press conference, a designation reserved for one of the game’s top players.

“She won the game for us,” Fennelly said.

The junior poured in 18 points and was one of the few bright spots in a night full of offensive struggles during a 65-52 win over UCF. Jackson connected on 6-of-12 shots from 3-point range and grabbed five rebounds as Iowa State (18-5, 6-5 Big 12) won its fourth-straight game.

“Not very often can you just say, ‘Hey this one kid probably was the main reason,’” Fennelly said. “But, I would say today, AJ was the reason we won the game.”

Jackson had one of the most efficient nights for a Cyclones team that shot just 39.1% (25-for-64) from the field and 25% (9-for-36) from 3-point range. She finished with a career-high in points and made six of Iowa State’s nine buckets from beyond the arc. Without Jackson’s deep shooting, the Cyclones would have likely let UCF, one of the Big 12’s worst teams, hang around longer.

“Offensively, we set basketball back a few years,” Fennelly said. “I’ve said this many times, this is a make-shot, miss-shot game and we missed a lot of shots. And we made enough to win the game.”

Jackson missed three games during the team’s recent five-game losing streak while battling a knee injury. Ever since she’s returned to the floor, the Cyclones have yet to lose. Fennelly said the winning streak is no coincidence, thanks to Jackson’s big shots and great defense. Saturday was one of her best offensive performances.

“The basket was pretty big for me,” Jackson said.

Especially in the third quarter, when she posted nine of Iowa State’s 15 points to pull away and take a 46-35 lead. The shots were huge because her teammates were struggling and because of the game plan UCF had implemented on star center Audi Crooks.

The Knights brought double, and sometimes triple, teams on Crooks, having a defender behind her and in front of her to stop passes from going into the post. It opened up shots for several other Cyclones. Jackson was one of the few to knock them down.

“Our offense was just guards getting downhill, finding what was open, looking at Audi and then getting kickouts,” Jackson said. “So it was working.”

With Jackson continually knocking down shots, the team kept getting the ball to her. The head coach was happy with the timing of the buckets, with many of them coming as UCF tried to claw back into the game. Jackson helped push the Knights away.

“I thought every look was in rhythm,” Fennelly said.

Jackson was rewarded with the big night and the big honor of meeting with the media after the game.

She made shots,” Fennelly said.

The Cyclones get a much-needed break. And the timing is actually pretty good

Iowa State will now get several days off before its next game, a road contest against Utah on Feb. 7. That marks the start of a two-game road trip, which wraps up at BYU on Feb. 10.

Despite being on a four-game winning streak, Fennelly said the timing of the break is great since the Cyclones have been limited in practice due to injuries to several players. Jackson and Williams, along with guard Reese Beaty, have missed practice time. Junior Addy Brown is also out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.

“We have some kids that need a rest,” Fennelly said. “They really do. We haven’t practiced a whole lot.”

Fennelly tries to get Kenzie Hare going with some early plays

The Iowa State coach said the first two plays of the game were drawn up for guard Kenzie Hare, who has struggled to shoot it from deep this season and entered Saturday’s game averaging just 5.6 points per game.

She finished the UCF game 0-for-7 from 3-point.

Still, she has a track record of knocking down shots from beyond the arc. During her freshman season at Marquette, she led the team in made 3-pointers with 49. The following season, she broke the program record for made 3s by a sophomore with 91. So, getting her going would be a big boost.

“Obviously its been a struggle, but that’s what she needs to do for our team and she got seven of them off and I thought all seven of them were pretty good looks,” Fennelly said. “It’s just one of those nights where we just couldn’t get one to go down.”

Bill Fennelly gets honored before the game

The pregame festivities included Fennelly being honored for becoming the Big 12’s all-time leader in wins thanks to his team’s victory at No. 20 Texas Tech earlier in the week.

Iowa State played a video montage with messages from current and former Big 12 coaches, including Kim Mulkey who Fennelly passed on the wins list. Mulkey was a longtime rival of Fennelly’s at Baylor before moving on to LSU.

Fennelly nearly cried postgame as he spoke with reporters about how he thought of his late parents while watching the video.

“You could put that one in my casket,” Fennelly said. “That one’s going with me so I can share with my parents.”

Audi Crooks extends scoring streak…but it wasn’t easy

Crooks finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds. The 10 points were the biggest chore for Crooks, who didn’t reach double digits in scoring until the fourth quarter. It extends her double-figure scoring streak to 89 games, the longest active streak in NCAA women’s basketball. It is the longest streak among Big 12 players since Brittney Griner’s 116-game streak.

“They had a really good plan on how they wanted to defend Audi,” Fennelly said. “They did a great job.”