(Ames, IA) – The Iowa State Cyclones were not able to scrape by with a win as #24 Oklahoma defeated the Cyclones 86-72 on Saturday night. Saturday’s loss marked the first conference loss in Hilton this season.
Leading on the night for Oklahoma was Payton Verhulst as she shot 8-17 from the hardwood while knocking down 25 points and hauled in eight rebounds. Verhulst also shot 8-17 from the field while dishing out six assists on the night. Skylar Vann shot 5-15 from the field while also snagging four rebounds for the Sooners. Neveah Tot played in 30 minutes of action, put down 10 points, and dished out nine assists, just short of a double-double.
For the home team, Iowa State was led on the night by Audi Crooks with 14 points while she snagged six rebounds and whipped out a season-high six assists. Crooks has 21 straight games with 10 points or more this season. The freshman now has the third-best season total by a freshman in program history with 153 points, she is not just 10 points off the mark behind Colleen Peterson in the 1975-76 season. Behind Crooks was Emily Ryan with 13 points as she recorded the first three-pointer of the game for a streak of 916 career games with a three-point bucket. Nyamer Diew shot 40% from the hardwood and picked up a total of 10 points and two blocks.
The Sooners shot 45.8% from the field while Iowa State shot 37.7% from the hardwood on the night. Oklahoma was able to outrebound Iowa State 47-37 and also out-assisted the Cyclones 25-15 on the night. Iowa State never could get the ball rolling against Oklahoma as the offensive struggled in the second half of action.
Iowa State will return to action when #8 Kansas State comes to town on Wednesday, February 14th at 6:30 p.m.
