Hawkeyes rally late, fall short against #10 Iowa State

The Hawkeyes nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages. Trailing by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, they pulled within a singular possession in the final minute. However, the hole they dug themselves was too much to overcome. Their bid at a shocking comeback fell short, with 10th-ranked Iowa State (11-0) hanging on for a 74-69 win over the 11th-ranked Hawkeyes (9-1) at Hilton Coliseum.

“I think we’re going to grow a lot from this. That’s a great team (Iowa State),” said Jan Jensen. “Do I wish we would have won? Yeah, but I have the utmost respect for Iowa State, and it was a great game. Sometimes you get to be the victors, but sometimes you come up a little bit short.”

“It was a heck of a game…I feel much more positive than negative.”

A feature game on ESPN, the Cy-Hawk rivalry did not disappoint.

The opening quarter gave the feeling that it was about to be a doozy of a game. A back-and-forth first quarter, it was the dynamic duo of Addy Brown and Audi Crooks doing most of the scoring. Crooks scored eight of the first 14 points for the Cyclones, while Brown knocked down an open triple to make it a 17-12 ISU advantage. Iowa answered with an 11-2 run, including a Kylie Feuerbach three-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Hawkeyes a 23-19 lead after ten minutes.

Much of the pregame talk was centered around the battle in the post between Audi Crooks and Ava Heiden. One thing that could derail the entire matchup? Foul trouble. Not only did Heiden pick up her second foul early in the second quarter, but Layla Hays picked up her second not long after. All the while, the Hawkeyes were in the midst of a six-and-a-half-minute stretch without a bucket. The player to keep them afloat was Chit-Chat Wright who was playing her first extended game action since the Baylor game.

Wright ended the drought with a bucket and then hit a big-time three-pointer just seconds after Sydney Harris hit one to give ISU a 33-26 lead. That triple quickly stopped the Cyclones momentum and it was the start of a 9-2 run to end the half, getting the Hawkeyes into the locker room in a 35-35 game. Chit-Chat scored 13 points in the first half and led the way with a team-high 21 points.

“With every game and every practice, I see myself growing in a leadership role,” said Wright. “Talking more, whether it’s critiquing or encouraging. Every day I see that coming upon myself more…I knew that there was going to be some highs, some lows, so I just tried to stay really levelheaded throughout.”

Going into the locker room, it was probably the Hawkeyes that felt good about themselves. Lengthy stretch without a made basket and extended time with Ava Heiden on the bench, but yet, they battled to a first half draw. The mood quickly shifted when Heiden picked up her third foul 19 seconds into the third quarter.

“I felt like we were in a pretty good spot coming in at halftime,” said Jensen. “Ava was the one player that couldn’t afford to get into foul trouble because then she couldn’t play with freedom.”

Iowa State tightened up on the defensive end and made a big push in the third quarter, threatening to turn the game into a route. Kenzie Hare knocked down a corner three to get the lead to double digits, with Addy Brown later knocking one down to make it 58-42. The lead grew as large as 60-43 in the final minute of the quarter, but a three from Taylor McCabe in the closing seconds gave the Hawkeyes some life heading into the final quarter. Still, ISU outscored Iowa 26-13 in the quarter, holding them to just 4-of-14 shooting.

“Defensively, we made a couple very, very slight changes. Don’t overthink it, the coaching didn’t do anything crazy. We just did a few little things defensively,” said Bill Fennelly. “Offensively, we had a package in for Addy Brown at the three, we thought we could post up a little bit more there, but I thought our shot selection was much better. We just guarded really well, pressured the ball a little bit better.”

Down, but not dead, the Hawkeyes slowly but surely started to pile up some stops and some buckets to inch their way back into the game. Iowa knocked down nine threes on the night, but none were bigger than the consecutive triples from Chit-Chat Wright and Kylie Feuerbach to get the wheels turning on a comeback. Not long after, Feuerbach hit Ava Heiden on a beautiful dump off on a drive to the basket, followed by Heiden dropping Audi Crooks to the floor with a spin and bucket, cutting the deficit to 64-60 with 4:40 left to play.

“They hit some tough shots, made some great plays and their guard play was really good,” said Fennelly. “The (threes) they hit were big ones, really big ones. The nines threes they made, it seemed like every one of them was like, oh damn it.”

“It was Coach Jan that came in the huddle and said, we’re never done and then the four seniors, we got together at the end of the third quarter and said, this is going to be a hard comeback, but it’s something that we’re able to do,” said Taylor McCabe. “It really showed that we are super gritty the way we came back.”

A couple of Audi Crooks buckets kept the Hawkeyes at bay, finishing with a game-high 30 points and ten rebounds, but the Cyclones couldn’t put the game away. Trailing 70-64, Chit-Chat Wright made a huge step back three and then it was Hannah Stuelke answering another Crooks bucket to cut it to 72-69 with under a minute to play. After Jada Williams went 0-for-2 at the line, Iowa had a chance to tie the game with under 20 seconds to play. Off of a baseline inbounds pass, Taylor McCabe tried to force up a contested three-pointer, but it was blocked by Kenzie Hare.

“Kenzie did a phenomenal job. You have to chase that kid (McCabe) around so much and that is not easy to do,” said Fennelly. “That was a huge play because you don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s a kid that, if she misses, you’re surprised. That’s how good she is, and luckily Kenzie made a good play that (nearly) ended the game.”

On the other end of the floor, Audi Crooks missed the first free throw but was able to step up and hit the second one to ice the game. In a game that had some much anticipation for the post battle, Crooks outscored Heiden, Hays and Stuelke, 30-21.

“The thing about Crooks is she has beautiful touch. She’s pretty lethal,” said Jensen. “We were trying to play in front some, play behind some, and help off some, but when Ava got in foul trouble, it took a really big cog out of our game plan.”

On the night, the Hawkeyes shot 42.9% (27-of-63) from the floor and 37.5% (9-of-24) from three-point range. Iowa State shot 52.6% (30-of-57) from the floor and 33.3% (5-of-15) from behind the arc. Neither team was good at the free throw line, with ISU going 5-for-12 in the fourth quarter. Iowa lost the rebounding battle for the first time all season (39-32) and was outscored 19-11 in second chance/points off turnovers.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes are back in action on Saturday afternoon, hosting the Lindenwood Lions at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tipoff is set for 2:00pm CT on BTN+.