AMES – The Iowa State women’s basketball team opened the season with giant expectations placed upon them as a preseason top-10 team and one of the favorites to win the Big 12 Conference.
The Cyclones quickly showed why Monday.
Ninth-ranked Iowa State scored the first 29 points of the game and rolled to an easy 96-56 season-opening victory over Chicago State at Hilton Coliseum.
Addy Brown scored 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds and handed out five assists for the Cyclones. Audi Crooks added 16 points and four rebounds for Iowa State, which won its 30th consecutive season opener.
Iowa State had no trouble with a Chicago State team that won just one game last season. The Cyclones led from start to finish and were able to cruise most of the day.
The day couldn’t have started much better for Iowa State, which connected on five of its first seven shots from field including its first four from 3-point range. It jump-started a 29-0 lead.
Chicago State missed its first 14 shots from the field and didn’t get a basket until a banked-in 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first quarter.
By then, the damage was done. Iowa State shot 58.8 percent (10-for-17) from the field in the first quarter and got scoring contributions from seven different players.
The Cyclones didn’t let up either, taking a 52-19 lead at halftime. The lead grew to 82-34 by the end of the third quarter.
Freshman Aili Tanke, who got the start, finished with 12 points including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Iowa State shot 50.8% from the field for the day. Alisa Williams chipped in with 12 points for the Cyclones.
Iowa State will take on Indiana State on Thursday at Hilton Coliseum.
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State women’s basketball opens season with win over Chicago State
