Jada Williams (8) goes for two points at the Iowa State University vs. Arizona State University Big 12 tournament women’s basketball game, T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri, March 5, 2026. (Photo: Maeley Rosengren)
Marshall Woods, Sports Reporter | Iowa State Daily
KANSAS CITY – Iowa State took the three and a half hour trip down south this Thursday to play the Arizona State Sun Devils in Kansas City, Missouri, for the Big 12 tournament at the T-Mobile Center.
Iowa State women’s basketball played its first and final game of the women’s Big 12 tournament Thursday, where the Cyclones lost 77-68 to Arizona State.
The Cyclones played their first and final game of the tournament in a 77 to 68 loss to the team from Tempe, Arizona.
Slow start
The Cyclones started about as slowly as possible, scoring only two points in the first seven minutes of regulation, with the only points coming on a Jada Williams jumper.
Audi Crooks broke that streak with a pair of free throws with 2:48 left in the first.
Iowa State eventually ended the first quarter shooting 2-10 from field goal range, the only other make being a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left in the quarter.
This was emphasized with a struggle to hit triples for the Cyclones. Iowa State got to a point with four minutes left in the second quarter where the team was 1-11 from beyond the line. That streak eventually broke when Addy Brown hit a triple to put ISU at 19 points.
The Cyclones flipped that early struggle on its head to close out the first half. The T-Mobile Center, which has been referred to as Hilton South by Cyclone fans, exploded when Arianna Jackson hit her first triple of the game to put the Cyclones behind by five.
The deficit grew by three to close the first half, with the score at 33-25 in Arizona State’s favor and the Cyclones closing at 3-18 from the three.
Iowa State guard Reese Beaty (1) drives toward the basket against defender McKinna Brackens (21) during Iowa State’s Big 12 Tournament matchup vs. Arizona State at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, March 5, 2026. (Photo/August Anderson)
Arizona State’s Audi Crooks blockade
Crooks, a prolific scorer in college basketball, was held to just four points in the first half, all of which came on free throws.
Crooks currently has the longest double-digit scoring streak in college basketball, and that didn’t stop today, although it came later than normal when she made a layup with three minutes left in the third quarter.
The last time the Sun Devils and the Cyclones met, Arizona State struggled to stop Audi Crooks, allowing her to score 28 points.
The defensive philosophy was different for this matchup, though: get as many people on her inside when she gets the ball, meaning almost any time she gets the ball, there’d be two or three defenders on her.
A good chunk of Crooks’ points came on free throws, where she ended the game shooting 8-12 from the line.
Crooks ended the game with 21 points on 6-10 shooting. This came as a bit of a surprise, as she had dropped 41 points on 16-19 shooting in her last game versus Kansas State.
After Arizona State’s last game against the Cyclones, the Sun Devils head coach, Molly Miller, said the key to their loss was their inability to stop Audi Crooks. With that being said, Arizona State put together a new strategy to stop Crooks.
“We can’t just rely on our five-player rotation,” Miller said. “We had to feel bodies and then we had to have a sense of emergency to get out on their shooters, just their ability to help out on the interior but close out on the perimeter.”
The end of a road that never began
With this loss, the Cyclones bow out of the Big 12 tournament in their very first game, while Arizona State will move on to play West Virginia.
Iowa State came into the tournament as a seven seed, playing against a 10th seed, Arizona State, which they’d just beaten.
In 2025, Iowa State, which was No. 7 seed, played Arizona State, which at the time was No. 15 seed. That game had a different result for the Cyclones, as they won. The last time before this matchup that Iowa State lost in their first game was in 2021, when the Cyclones, who were No. 4 seeded, lost to No. 5 seeded Texas 84-82 in overtime.
Iowa State will look to bounce back in March Madness, with an early exit allowing them more rest time and more time to practice together.
Iowa State Notes
Iowa State women’s basketball’s all-time record moves to 893-687 (.565) and 355-367 (.492) in conference play.
Fennelly’s career record moves to 822-387 (.680) in his 38-year career and 656-334 (.663) at Iowa State.
With a steal in the third quarter, Reese Beaty recorded her 25th swipe of the season.
Addy Brown’s 3-pointer in the second quarter pushed her past 1,200 career points. She is the 25th all-time leading scorer at Iowa State.
With 21 points today, Audi Crooks extended her double-figure scoring streak to 97 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.
It also marked her 63rd career 20-point game.
Making a free throw in the fourth quarter, Crooks set a new second-best all-time single-season scoring record (761). She holds the record with 820 points (2024-25) and passed Bridget Carleton’s 760 points (2018-19).
Crooks made four free throws in the first quarter, allowing her to pass Ashley Joens’ eighth-best single season mark of makes at the charity stripe (150).
Kenzie Hare hit a 3-pointer late in the first quarter, ISU’s first of the day and her 50th this season.
Jada Williams notched her 400th career assist with her first assist of the night.
Up Next
The NCAA Division I Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday, March 15 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
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