AMES – Iowa State secured its third consecutive victory in the Big 12 Conference with a commanding 71-58 win against Texas Tech on Tuesday.

Despite hardships presented throughout the first half, the Cyclones were able to adapt to the hard physicality and neglect from perimeter shooting by putting on a strong performance to advance to a 13-6 overall record.

Early offensive struggles

In the first quarter, Texas Tech used a full-court press defensive tactic that presented Iowa State with offensive struggles. The all-out effort has been used many times throughout the season on the Cyclones. However, Iowa State was unable to break the Red Raiders’ press, leaving them to be left with a minimal 13 points in the first quarter.

“We told our players it was going to be basically hand-to-hand combat, they pressed 94 feet the whole time, their hands are on you the whole time,” Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said. “The first thing we’re going to look at is how are they going to double team Audi [Crooks] or not, they didn’t. So we just said throw the ball to Audi [Crooks] every chance you get and try and beat them off the bounce.”

The aggressive campaign left only three Cyclone players able to score due to their causal and uncharacteristic turnovers, as Iowa State had six turnovers in the first 10 minutes of play, contributing to its overall total of 15.

Fouls cause hardships on court

Texas Tech came into the game with strong aggressiveness, consistently using illegal physical contact such as charging and pushing. Therefore, the Cyclones only pushed back harder, racking up 16 fouls in the process compared to Texas Tech’s 29.

Due to the hard-core physicality, scoring decreased as Crooks faced brutal contact throughout the night, along with consistent pressure from Texas Tech’s guards. Crooks racked up the most personal fouls with four.

“Get to the free throw line because if you’re pressing 94 feet for 40 minutes, you’re going to get fouled a lot, so we wanted to get into the bonus as quick as we could,” Fennelly said.

The scrappy defense drove the Cyclones’ momentum and caused many opportunities from the free-throw line. The hopeful drive followed from the charity stripe as Iowa State shot 75%, making 21 out of its 28 attempted shots.

Points in the paint led the way

With guards posted at every spot and a lack of shooting ability around the perimeter, the Cyclones had many points in the paint, contributing 50 points to their overall score. The rest came from successful free throws.

“For the rest of the game, it was pretty much one-on-one in the paint and they kind of played that one-on-one defensive style,” Crooks said. “I think that’s why everybody was able to get so many points in the paint tonight, but it was working.”

With Iowa State’s strong skill set and Crooks’ ability to undergo every obstacle thrown her way, she was able to undermine the double-teaming tossed her way and contributed a team-high of 28 points after going 11-for-20 from the floor.

Along with Crooks, sophomore forward Addy Brown contributed 21 points, making eight out of her 11 attempted shots.

Despite the success found within the paint, opportunities from around the perimeter were available. However, the team went 0-for-7 from behind the arc. This marked the first game since 1995 that Iowa State was unable to go a game without making a 3-point field goal.

“It’s cool, history is history,” Brown said. “I mean, we’re historically known for shooting the 3s and I was a little upset when I heard about it. I’d like to keep the streak going, but again, we took what they gave up and that wasn’t the 3-point shot tonight. So that’s kind of how it goes.”

Poking fun at the record, Crooks attempted a shot from behind the arc due to the audience chanting in hopes of shielding the 945-game streak but was found with no such luck.

“Sorry but also not, the streak is cool but at the same time we were able to win basketball games by scoring only in the paint and from the free throw line,” Crooks said. “I also do understand the tradition and the value of that streak. We do apologize, but the paint was working tonight.”