Among the best matchups in ladies’s basketball went down this week: Iowa State vs. Iowa, at Iowa State’s house enviornment. The Cy-Hawk collection, as these video games are recognized, introduced No. 10 Iowa State and No. 11 Iowa collectively for a recreation that had extra stakes than it has in a few years.
Each groups got here into this recreation undefeated, and it was fairly clear that whoever gained wouldn’t solely stay undefeated and break their rivals’ streak, but additionally safe their top-10 rating subsequent week. It was additionally the hardest competitors both group has confronted to date this season.
It was a unbelievable, thrilling recreation as Iowa State stayed within the lead for many of the recreation, however Iowa by no means made them really feel really snug. After going into halftime tied up, a run led Iowa State to achieve a double-digit level lead within the third quarter, however Iowa got here again inside a possession within the ultimate minutes of the sport. It took a few robust defensive possessions within the ultimate minutes for Iowa State to safe the win on house court docket, a 75-69 victory over the Hawkeyes, bringing their season document to 10-0.
Some of the impactful items to Iowa State’s success this season has been Audi Crooks. The junior is averaging 27.8 factors per recreation by means of the Cyclones’ 10 matches, main the nation in scoring. Impressively, she can be doing this in solely 25.7 minutes per recreation.
Crooks scored 30 factors and grabbed 10 rebounds within the win over Iowa, making it her third consecutive 30+ level recreation. She additionally has two 40-point video games this season, scoring 47 factors towards Indiana and 43 factors towards Valparaiso. She ties Baylor’s Taliah Scott for the highest win shares within the nation, a stat that measures a participant’s contributions on the offensive and defensive ends.
Whereas the dialog round Participant of the Yr candidates doesn’t normally ramp up till the brand new 12 months, Crooks ought to undoubtedly be on the brief record. Iowa State’s dominance flows by means of Crooks, and she or he’s expanded a number of elements of her recreation by means of her 2.5 seasons at Iowa State to change into a extra well-rounded participant. Recognized for her dominance beneath the basket as a rebounder, curler, and finisher, Crooks is aware of she must develop her bag if she goes to compete with the highest groups within the nation, but additionally separate herself as a prime WNBA prospect when draft time comes.
One of many issues she’s carried out is stretch her taking pictures vary a giant to have the ability to function exterior of the paint. Her peak and power are each already arduous to match, however when she stretches the ground and is ready to make photographs a bit of farther from the basket, her recreation shines. Specifically, she displayed a fadeaway jumper on the baseline within the recreation versus Iowa that was extremely spectacular, and virtually A’ja Wilson-like.
Nonetheless a junior with one other 12 months to develop after this one, Crooks is rising on the excellent time. Iowa State has an actual shot at making a splash within the Large-12 convention this season, and will trigger an upset come March towards a group that may not count on Crooks to pack the identical punch on offense that she did towards Iowa.
In relation to the Participant of the Yr dialog, she undoubtedly stacks up nicely towards different candidates like Sarah Sturdy, Azzi Fudd, Lauren Betts and extra. She’s scoring greater than all of them, doing it in fewer minutes, and her group remains to be undefeated. Don’t sleep on Audi Crooks.
