AMES – Approaching the final four games of the season, the Cyclones will match up against Houston for their second meeting on Wednesday, aiming to increase their three-game win streak. 

After defeating Kansas once this season, Iowa State visited the Jayhawks’ home court and dominated again. Thanks to a team-wide effort, multiple players found shooting success around the court, and the Cyclones ended the night with an impactful 93-80 win.

“I think we’ve played really well the last three games,” Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said. “I think our players understand more so than ever what they need to do to be successful.”

Finding momentum early on with a 26-17 point lead at the end of the first quarter, the Cyclones only grew more powerful behind the 3-point arc, converting on 18 of their 36 shots outside for a 50% rate.

“I think for us it’s all about how the other team is going to guard Audi [Crooks],” Fennelly said. “That dictates everything that we do and we’ve seen about everything there is to see and sometimes we’ve handled it really well.”

Fifth-year guard Emily Ryan led the perimeter success with six successful shots from behind the arc, followed by junior guard/forward Sydney Harris, who went 5-for-9.

“It was pretty awesome,” sophomore forward Addy Brown said. “Once [Ryan] hit her third or fourth I was like dang okay, she’s hitting tonight.” 

Following the shots from the top of the key, sophomore center Crooks and Brown had their usual success on the court with Crooks ending the night with a team-high 25 points and Brown nearing a triple-double with 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“I mean not many people can match up with all of us, especially [Brown],” sophomore guard Arianna Jackson said. “So I definitely think it makes us dangerous.”

Contrary to Iowa State’s winning success, Houston is on an eight-game losing streak heading into the matchup. The Cougars sit at a 5-20 overall record and a 1-13 conference record.

“When you play a team like Houston, you know those kids are going to play hard,” Fennelly said. “They’ve played hard all year and they don’t have a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament unless they win the conference tournament but sometimes those teams are the most dangerous.”

With a previous 83-60 loss against Colorado, where Houston had a limited six players hit the court, graduate student guard Laila Blair tallied up the most points at 18 after going 7-for-15 from field goal range.

Houston averages 58 points per game, a large majority coming from Blair who has a team-high of 287 points, averaging 13 points per game. She is also the most confident on the 3-point line, with a 32% completion rate.

“They have three older guards,” Fennelly said. “The Blair kid is very talented, very skilled, she played great against us last year.”

On the defensive side, graduate student guard Eylia Love and sophomore guard Kierra Merchant paved the way with a similar average of two steals per game. Love holds a team-high of 152 rebounds, averaging 6.3 per game. Merchant holds a team-high of 60 steals.

In contrast to its record, Houston took home a 79-76 win against Oklahoma State earlier in the season, whereas the Cyclones dropped 81-75 against the Cowgirls. Fennelly mentioned that although the team feels confident going in, the team needs to treat this game like any other.

“One thing I told our players, they beat Oklahoma State and we didn’t,” Fennelly said. “You know you can sit here all you want and we have all seen what could happen, that’s why I’ve always been, the next 40 minutes nameless, faceless opponent.”

Iowa State takes on Houston at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday from Hilton Coliseum. The game will be live-streamed on ESPN+.