AMES, Iowa – Three Iowa State women’s basketball players earned All-Big 12 accolades on Tuesday afternoon, as announced by the conference office. The trio of Audi Crooks, Addy Brown and Emily Ryan earned recognition from the league’s coaches after helping ISU to a 12-6 Big 12 record.

Crooks was a unanimous First Team all-conference selection for the second consecutive season, the only Iowa State women’s basketball player to be selected to the First Team in each of their first two seasons. The Algona native led the Cyclones in scoring, pouring in 23.0 points per game while pulling down 7.7 rebounds per contest. In Iowa State’s regular season finale against No. 14 Kansas State, Crooks scored a season-high 36 points, shooting 14-of-18 from the floor and 8-of-11 from the free throw line. The sophomore center was a three-time Big 12 Player of the Week selection. She scored in double figures in every game this season, finishing with six 30-plus point games and 10 double-doubles. Crooks is the nation’s leader in field goal makes this year and broke her own record from a season ago with 285 makes through the regular season.

Brown was selected to the All-Big 12 Second Team this season after being recognized as honorable mention as a freshman in 2023-24. She improved upon a stellar rookie campaign, averaging 15.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game in conference play as a sophomore, all top 12 marks in the league. Brown finished the regular season with eight double-doubles and scoring with 20-plus points nine times. She was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on February 3 after scoring a career-high 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting against No. 9 TCU. The 6-2 forward added 20 points and eight assists at No. 11 Kansas State in the same week. Brown nearly missed the program’s fourth ever triple-double at Kansas on February 15 with 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

Ryan was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, earning her third career all-conference honors. Iowa State’s all-time assists leader averaged 9.8 points and 6.2 dimes per game this season while shooting nearly 45 percent from the floor. In conference play, she increased her scoring to 11.4 points per contest. On Senior Day and likely her last game in Hilton Coliseum, Ryan posted one of her most well-rounded performances, scoring 17 points while passing out 10 assists and pulling down seven rebounds to help Iowa State to its first ranked win of the season over No. 14 Kansas State. The Claflin, Kansas native has passed out 968 career assists, the ninth all-time best in NCAA women’s basketball history, and has posted top 5 marks at Iowa State for steals (222), blocks (104) and free throw percentage (.881). She became one of just three women’s basketball players in NCAA history to record 1,500 points, 900 assists and 600 rebounds in her career (Sabrina Ionescu, Caitlin Clark).

Iowa State travels to Kansas City for the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship as the seven-seed. The Cyclones earned a first-round bye and will take on the winner of Cincinnati and Arizona State Thursday night at 5:30 pm in the T-Mobile Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Ames – 48 vs Johnston – 41 

Cedar Falls – 52 vs Davenport Central – 37 

Cedar Rapids Kennedy – 62 vs Davenport North – 34

Linn-Mar – 62 vs Dowling Catholic – 50

Dubuque Senior – 64 vs Cedar Rapids Prairie – 55   

WDM Valley – 71 vs Dallas Center-Grimes – 60 

4A

#8 Cedar Rapids Xavier – 71 vs #1 Bishop Heelan – 57 

#2 North Polk – 47 vs #7 Sioux Center – 45

#6 Dallas Center-Grimes – 49 vs #3 Maquoketa – 45

#4 Norwalk – 56 vs #5 Central DeWitt – 54 

2A

#1 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont – 52 vs #8 Treynor – 45 

#5 Central Lyon – 59 vs #4 North Mahaska 34 

Tenth ranked Iowa State roared back from a 21-point second half deficit but 23rd ranked BYU held on for an 88-85 double overtime win to spoil Senior Night.

That’s ISU coach T.J. Otzelberger. The Cyclones forced 29 BYU turnovers but were out-rebounded 52-24 to drop their second game at Hilton Coliseum this season.

Joshua Jefferson led the Cyclones with 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Cyclones fall to 12-7 in the Big 12 and 22-8 overall.

Otzelberger says the Cyclones need to get back to playing consistent on the defensive end.

The Cyclones close the regular season at Kansas State on Saturday. Richie Saunders led BYU with 23 points as the Cougars locked up the four seed at next week’s Big 12 Tournament.

The Southwest Valley Girls basketball team has a lot to be proud of in the 2024-2025 campaign as well as many things to look forward to in the offseason. The Timberwolves finished with a record of 5-16 but had a strong finish up until the end of the season. Southwest Valley’s wins consisted of a pair of wins against East Union, road victories at Wayne and Red Oak, plus a home victory against Southeast Warren.

The Timberwolves season came to an end in a postseason loss vs. Lennox 46-42. That was the third meeting between the two programs this season and Head Coach Mike Cormack says he saw major improvement throughout the course of the season specifically in those matchups.

Despite not having the win-loss record that some may have hoped for, Coach Cormack says this group is one of the best off the floor.

The Timberwolves lose two impactful seniors who started almost every game on the floor together. Their impact and presence in the program will be missed but plenty of talent returns for Southwest Valley.

13 returners for Southwest Valley are a major key for the Timberwolves success for next season. Cormack is already looking forward to the season ahead.

The Southwest Valley Timberwolves will have better team chemistry, more experience, and lots to look forward to heading into the 2025-2026 season.

Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery says he plans to return for his 16th season as head coach. The Hawkeyes close their home schedule Thursday night against eight ranked Michigan State and at 6-12 in the Big Ten are in danger of missing the conference tournament in a season that has featured dwindling attendance.

McCaffery is Iowa’s al-time leader in wins and says he has no intention of moving on.

McCaffery says he has not felt the need to address the speculation with his team.

The Hawkeyes will close the regular season Sunday at Nebraska.

The Drake men prepare for a new challenge as they get ready for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis. After rolling to the regular season title the Bulldogs take a 27-3 record into Friday’s quarterfinals. They will play the winner of Thursday’s game between Indiana State and Southern Illinois at Noon on Friday.

That’s Drake coach Ben McCollum who says it is a fresh start for all of the teams.

McCollum says for the Bulldogs the approach does not change.

Iowa State sophomore center Audi Crooks is the AP National player-of-the-week. Crooks averaged 32 and-a-half points and nine rebounds in wins over Central Florida and Kansas State. That included a season high 36 in the win over then 14th ranked K-State.

That’s ISU coach Bill Fennelly. Crooks is averaging 23 points and nearly eight rebounds as the Cyclones take a 21-10 record into Thursday’s start of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

Crooks feels this season was a big step forward for her.

The Cyclones will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between Cincinnati and Arizona State.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa baseball team defeated Loras, 11-3, in its home opener on Monday afternoon at Duane Banks Field.

The Hawkeyes notched 15 hits and limited the Duhawks to four. Iowa hit .600 with runners on base, .533 with runners in scoring position and .395 overall. Each team committed zero errors.

“I’m thankful to Loras and Coach Tebon for pulling it out and finding a way to play us,” said head coach Rick Heller.

It was a group effort on the mound for Iowa, who used nine different pitchers in a scheduled bullpen game. Freshman Jaron Bleeker made his first collegiate start for the Hawkeyes. The right-hander threw one inning, gave up one hit and struck out two batters. The Hawkeye pitching staff fanned 14 Duhawks and walked one. Senior Chas Wheatley led the team with three strikeouts.

“It was great to see, escpecially after the guys had a rough first outing last Thursday when we were playing Washington State,” said Heller. “The reason we wanted to play this game tonight so bad was to get them back out there with conference starting in week four now. I just didn’t want them to have that bad taste in their mouth going into leauge play this weekend.”

Iowa scored four runs in the first frame after Caleb Wulf, Jackson Beaman, Daniel Rogers and Andy Nelson each hit RBI singles.

The Hawkeyes were quiet at the plate until the sixth inning when Blake Guerin fouled off seven straight pitches and then hit a 426-foot bomb to centerfield to put Iowa up, 7-1.

The Duhawks responded with two runs in the top of the seventh, but the Hawkeyes answered right back and added four runs in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by a two RBI triple from designated hitter Reese Moore. The redshirt sophomore went 4-for-4 with a double, a triple, a walk and two runs scored.

Junior Gable Mitchell was the lone other Hawkeye to record a multi-hit game, going 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will open Big Ten play with a three-game series at Rutgers March 7-9 in New Brunswick, N.J. The series will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription) and broadcast on Hawkeye Radio Network.

MOC-Floyd Valley – 69 vs Bishop Heelan Catholic – 49

Ballard – 73 vs Des Moines Christian – 49

Storm Lake – 73 vs Gilbert – 57

Clear Lake – 58 vs Solon – 29

ADM – 52 vs Pella – 46

Central DeWitt – 59 vs Assumption – 38

Xavier – 62 vs Decorah – 59

Knoxville – 63 vs Keokuk – 55