AMES – The Iowa State women’s basketball team will have its first in-state rivalry game Wednesday against the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, marking its first away game.
After ending their first four-game home stretch of the season, the Cyclones handed St. Thomas its first loss Thursday after an 80-47 win. Securing a 12-point lead in the first quarter, the success carried on throughout the game, with center Audi Crooks securing a team-high 26 points and eight rebounds, marking her 35th game with double-digit points.
Along with Crooks, forward Addy Brown and guard/forward Sydney Harris both secured double-digit points with a combined total of 23. Guard Emily Ryan walked away with a team-high 13 assists.
Compared to Iowa State, UNI will continue to play on its home court after a close 76-70 loss against Ball State on Saturday.
Although starting off promising in the first quarter with a 9-9 tie and a strong offensive turnaround during the second half, the Panthers’ defense was no match for their competitor’s shots, as Ball State secured its fourth win after sinking 15 of the attempted 16 shots on the free throw line to obtain a six-point win over UNI.
Panthers senior guard Maya McDermott led the team with 27 points, two rebounds and four assists.
Iowa State will compete against UNI in the first of three games against in-state rivals this season. The Cyclones will face two in-state rivalry games within one week, beginning with UNI on Wednesday and followed up by a matchup against Drake University back in Ames on Sunday.
“It’s the same thing, four really good teams, three different conferences,” Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said. “It brings in more attention than any games we ever play all year. So for the growth of the sport and for what we need to do, it’s a good idea to play them.”
Despite it being early on in the season, and having tougher competition later on in the year, Fennelly believes that these games are the most challenging for the team.
“The three in-state games for me, I’m not speaking for anybody else, are the hardest games on our schedule for a lot of reasons and especially when they are on the road,” Fennelly said.
Coming across their first out of 14 scheduled road games this year, the team is ready for the onsight challenges that may arise, and are optimistic for the game despite not being with the Hilton crowd.
“I think we all just have to be in that mindset that we are not going to have our fans there so that just puts us to work even more together,” Harris said. “Obviously there are going to be ups and downs and not having that Hilton crowd there, we have to be even more together and just try to get through those highs and lows as a team.”
Although this is the first away game, Fennelly is anticipating a good crowd outcome, with many Iowa State supporters joining the stands for its first away game.
“We usually do pretty well up there,” Fennelly said. “It will be a really good crowd and I think historically, our fans travel when they can and I will be shocked if there’s not a lot of cardinal and gold on Wednesday night.”
The Cyclones will face UNI for their first road test at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Cedar Falls. The game will be live-streamed on ESPN+.
