KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sophomore forward Addy Brown became the offensive spark on the court to carry Iowa State to a 96-88 win over Arizona State in the second round of the Big 12 Championship on Thursday.
Brown achieved new limits through her offensive success, earning a new career high of 41 points and creating a new preliminary round record, while earning the third-most points scored in a Big 12 Tournament game. On top of it, she also scored the most points by an Iowa State player in the Big 12 Championship since 1984.
“Tonight just happened to be my night,” Brown said. “I kind of just took advantage of that; you wait on moments like that. My teammates were excited for me, and they were finding me in the right business.”
Despite starting slow with the first quarter and going three minutes without putting points up on the board, Brown quickly tapped in and made a quick layup following sophomore center Audi Crooks’ jumper in the paint to secure Iowa State a fighting chance of staying in the game.
As the Cyclones started sloppily and lacked their usual offensive drive, Brown was able to control the court, making two back-to-back 3-point shots, to gain a 12-11 lead.
Brown ended the quarter with a team high of 13 points, going 5-for-8 from the field, and securing three 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes of play. She was also able to steady the team out and secure an 11-point lead going into the second quarter.
“I mean, it’s impressive,” junior guard/forward Sydney Harris said. “It’s awesome, I get to say that I played with her and Audi [Crooks] and a bunch of people that can do some stuff like that. I love this team, I love her, when you see people do stuff like that you are just happy for them.”
By the end of the second quarter, Brown made seven shots, finding more comfort from within the paint as she made a unique pattern of layups and jump shots alongside going 3-for-4 from behind the charity stripe.
“I tried to score at three levels,” Brown said. “I kinda got the three going early, so they were quick to step out there. Felt like I kinda had the mismatch inside, and we ran some plays for that, so I was able to score up close too.”
Arizona State tried a variety of defense tactics on both Crooks and Brown, while Crooks got tied up and ended the night with 20 points, a majority coming from her 10 successful free throw shots. Brown thrived off the change in the defensive dynamic and adjusted her offensive routine to vary around the perimeter.
“It’s a matchup thing, we literally try and attack off the bounce,” Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said. “They’re very, very aggressive. But we have Addy [Brown] and Audi [Crooks] that can create contact.”
With a previous career high of 31 points made in a game against TCU in the regular season, Brown surpassed her achievement by the end of the third quarter, tallying up 34 points within her 29 minutes of play.
Being consistent by tallying up double-digit points each quarter alongside going strong throughout her time on the court from different areas, Brown finished with a team high of 38 minutes on the court by making two consecutive free throws to tally up her points to 41.
Brown’s double-digit total was formed from her going 13-for-23 from the field, five successful shots from behind the arc and going 10-for-11 from behind the charity stripe.
