AMES – Iowa State won its second game of the year with a comfortable 64-42 win against Indiana State behind 16 points from sophomore center Audi Crooks and a double-double from sophomore forward Addy Brown on Thursday.

Before the game, head coach Bill Fennelly was recognized as he began his 30th season as head coach of the Cyclones. Fennelly is tied for the longest-tenured Power 4 head coach across both men’s and women’s college basketball with Michigan State’s men’s coach Tom Izzo.

Offensively, the Cyclones struggled to put the ball in the basket early. Iowa State missed its first three shot attempts, but freshman guard Aili Tanke knocked down her first attempt to go up 3-2.

Sophomore forward Addy Brown was not afraid to shoot despite shooting 25% in the quarter. She was 2-for-7 in the quarter and had five of the Cyclones’ 14 points as they trailed by two at the end of the first quarter.

Shooting picked up by a large margin in the second quarter. Iowa State shot nearly 43% from the floor and 37.5% from 3-point range. Although she went 1-for-4 in the quarter, Brown led the way once again with seven points behind her perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the free throw line. The Cyclones led by seven at the half, 35-28.

Iowa State came out of the half playing hard on defense, only allowing eight points in the third quarter. Sophomore guard Arianna Jackson played with active hands, tallying three steals in the third quarter alone, while sophomore center Audi Crooks had two blocks. The Cyclones led 54-36 at the end of the quarter.

Iowa State one-upped itself defensively in the fourth quarter, only allowing six points, with four steals as a team and two blocks from fifth-year senior guard Emily Ryan. Sophomore center Lilly Taulelei also notched her first points of the year with a late fourth-quarter score.

Breaking the zone

Indiana State started the game in a zone defense, a look that the Cyclones have not dealt with much at all yet in this young season.

The zone kept the Cyclones on the perimeter, forcing them to shoot threes at a much higher rate than they usually do. Breaking a zone usually includes filling the spots that the defense doesn’t, and that spot was right at the free-throw line for the Cyclones.

“Most teams don’t really play in a zone very often, we don’t see that a ton,” Crooks said. “The money spot was finding that high post, and thankfully, we got Sydney Harris, so we don’t gotta worry about that.”

Harris was 2-for-2 in the first quarter. Both shots came from the high post spot to help break the zone. She ended the night 4-for-6 and 2-for-4 from the charity stripe to end the night with 11 points total.

“[Harris is] a scorer, she finds ways to get open, she’s always been a scorer,” Fennelly said. “She has that mentality, she hunts her shot. The uniqueness of Sydney [Harris] tonight compared to everyone else, she made her first two.”

Slow offensive start

“I think offensively, we set the sport back a lot tonight,” Fennelly said. “But I thought defensively we played really good.”

Iowa State shot a tough 25% from the field in the first quarter and an even lower 18% from behind the arc. The poor shooting led to the Cyclones trailing by two after the first 10 minutes.

“When you are a basketball player, and your shots are not going in, your life is miserable,” Fennelly said. “Too many of us, our team and every team, are defined by their jump shot.”

Although the first quarter got the best of Iowa State percentage-wise, the overall finish was not much better on the scoring end. The Cyclones shot just under 30% for the entire game, and were 22% from three. 

“Coach Fennelly said this might’ve been the most poor offensive night for Iowa State,” Crooks said. “When that’s not going your way, you gotta create opportunities elsewhere, and for us I think we locked in defensively, and that’s kinda where we won the game tonight.”

Crooks still scored 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting, and shot 80% from the free throw line. She was two rebounds away from a double-double.

Defense and experience built a lead

This may end up being Iowa State’s worst night shooting for the entire season, but it’s important to note that it also held Indiana State to 42 points on 25% shooting. The Cyclones swarmed the Sycamore offense, collecting 10 blocks and 13 steals.

“If you watch our game, we don’t look that much different probably to the people sitting in the stands,” Fennelly said. “But we are, and I think that’s shown in how we have guarded.”

The Cyclones were reliant on a lot of new and young faces defensively a year ago, but this is not the case now. Fennelly said that last year, he may have used strong offense to overshadow some potentially lacking defense.

“I think we have kids that can defend on the perimeter a little better, and we are a little bit older,” Fennelly said. “There’s no question we are a better defensive team.”

Crooks had three blocks against the Sycamores, a new career-high for the sophomore. She also tracked down five defensive rebounds.

“The growth over this past year individually, and as a team, but individually from a defensive perspective has been huge,” Crooks said. “I don’t think I could have gone out and done what I did tonight last year.”

Iowa State has a short break before it is back at home against Southern at 2 p.m. Sunday where the Cyclones will hope to improve to 3-0.