Audi Crooks went off on Friday evening, and he or she saved No. 7 Iowa State within the course of.
Crooks led the Cyclones again from a 20-point deficit to knock off No. 10 Maryland 93-86 within the first spherical of the NCAA match on Friday at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California. The comeback win marked the second-largest comeback within the historical past of the NCAA girls’s tourney.
Texas A&M, which rallied from a 21-point gap in 2017, holds that document. Center Tennessee rallied from 18 factors down earlier on Friday to stun No. 6 Louisville in what was the third-largest comeback in match historical past.
Crooks dropped a career-high 40 factors, had 12 rebounds and shot 18 of 20 from the sector within the win. She matched Iowa State’s single-game factors document for an NCAA match recreation, matched probably the most factors scored by a Huge 12 participant in a match recreation and set the brand new college document for discipline objectives made in a match recreation. And, based on ESPN, Crooks is the primary participant up to now 25 years to drop 40 factors whereas capturing 90% or higher from the sector.
The freshman merely couldn’t be stopped.
“She dropped 40 on 20 photographs. That’s fairly eye-popping proper there,” Iowa State guard Emily Ryan mentioned, by way of Cyclone Fanatic. “It couldn’t have occurred to a greater individual and I’m comfortable to share the courtroom along with her.”
Maryland got here flying out of the gate, and took a 13-point lead after dropping 33 factors within the first quarter. The Terps pushed that result in 20 factors briefly earlier than getting into halftime up 52-36. Allie Kubek dropped 19 of her 29 factors within the first half whereas capturing an ideal 5 of 5 from behind the arc.
But Iowa State slowly lower into that lead. Finally, Kelsey Joens capped a fast 10-0 burst with a 3-pointer to tie the sport. Then after lastly pushing forward barely within the fourth quarter, the Cyclones ended the sport on an 11-4 burst to seal the seven-point win.
Kubek led the Terps with 29 factors and 5 rebounds whereas capturing 7 of 8 from behind the arc. Shyanne Sellers added 19 factors, seven rebounds and 6 assists, and Religion Masonius completed with 14 factors. Maryland had gained 18 straight opening-round video games on the NCAA match earlier than Friday’s loss, which was the fifth-longest streak within the nation.
Ryan completed with 18 factors and had 14 assists to go along with Crooks’ 40 piece. Joens added 12 factors off the bench, and Hannah Belanger completed with 10 factors. The Cyclones shot practically 57% from the sector as a crew and nonetheless managed to drag off the win regardless of committing 17 turnovers.
Regardless of her large evening, Crooks was fast to share credit score.
Audi Crooks giving a number of credit score to her teammates for her historical past evening.
“I bow right down to the guards.”
— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) March 23, 2024
With the win, Iowa State will tackle No. 2 Stanford within the second spherical of the match on Sunday. The Cardinal rolled previous No. 15 Norfolk State 79-50 of their first spherical recreation.