AMES — Despite 39 points from Drake’s Katie Dinnebier, No. 8 Iowa State leaned on 33 points and a game-winning layup from center Audi Crooks to outlast the Bulldogs 80-78 Sunday.
“I thought it was one of the best games I’ve been a part of,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “I thought both teams were tremendous, played the game the right way, entertaining, nothing chippy.”
Dinnebier knocked down eight threes, including an and-one that made it a one-point game late in the second half. Crooks stayed calm and was able to counter Dinnebier’s shooting with the game-winner.
The Cyclones have allowed two high-scoring efforts from opposing point guards in their past two games, but this time, they were able to come out with the win.
“I’ve coached against a lot of great players, and I don’t want this to sound crazy,” Fennelly said. “The Caitlin Clarks, and we’ll see Paige Bueckers. I’ve never had a week where I’ve got to see two better point guard performances than Maya McDermott and Katie Dinnebier.”
After losing their first game of the season to Northern Iowa, the Cyclones were looking to bounce back against another in-state opponent, this time at home. The win improved the Cyclones record to 5-1 and was the final test before they take on No. 1 South Carolina on Thanksgiving.
In just 13 minutes of play in the first half, Crooks had 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, giving the Cyclones a narrow 45-44 lead at the break. Crooks nearly matched that in the second half, shooting 7-of-12 with 15 points to get to 33 total.
The biggest basket of them all was the final game-winning layup to help Iowa State secure the win. On the final play, fifth-year guard Emily Ryan swung the ball to sophomore forward Addy Brown and she tossed it down low to Crooks. Crooks did the rest.
“Emily [Ryan], Addy [Brown] and Audi [Crooks] were gonna make the decision,” Fennelly said. “If they helped, we were gonna kick it. If [Brown] saw one-on-one, that’s where we were going. I thought she was really patient.”
Right before Crooks’ game-winner, Dinnebier tallied her 39th point with a game-tying layup, putting all the pressure back on the Cyclones.
“We were fortunate we had the ball last,” Fennelly said. “If they had the ball last, they probably win, but we had the ball last.”
The play gave Iowa State a few different options in case one of them was not open, but Brown had to feed the hot hand as Crooks was down low with 31 points.
“There were a couple different options for that last play, I think it was [Brown] that sent it in,” Crooks said. “[Brown] trusted me with the ball there, and I put it in.”
Ryan, who had 12 assists on the night, knew Crooks said to just be humble.
“Everyone in the gym knew where that ball was going,” Ryan said. “She says there were options, but let’s be real, that ball was going to [Crooks]. We have full confidence in her, and she puts the work in, so that’s exactly where we want her to have the ball.”
Iowa State had a lot of motivation to win on Sunday. Save the home-winning streak, which is now nine, take down the Bulldogs after losing to them a year ago and prevent it from losing two straight games. Drake tried its best to upset the Cyclones, but in the end, Iowa State came away with it.
“There is gonna be a lot of runs, especially a team that is as talented as Drake,” Ryan said. “I’m just proud of that resiliency, and every time they took a shot at us, we were able to bounce back and take a shot back, and at the end of the day we were able to get one more bucket than they were.”
With the win, Iowa State improved to 5-1 and built some confidence and momentum heading into the Thursday afternoon game against No. 1 South Carolina. Had Crooks missed the final layup, it would be a whole different story.
“Relief, relief, I would’ve been so mad if I missed that,” Crooks said. “Just to know that my teammates have enough confidence to keep throwing it in meant a lot.”
