The intrastate showdown between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones, featuring Ava Heiden going up against the nation’s leading scorer, Audi Crooks, was one of the most anticipated showdowns of the season. The No. 11 and No. 10 teams were set to clash at Hilton Coliseum, and the game absolutely delivered!

The one thing missing from the Cyclones’ hot start was a marquee win. They hadn’t faced a ranked opponent yet, which made plenty of fans question how real this team and its winning run truly were. But Audi Crooks has made sure those doubts didn’t last long.

The home team has snapped a three-game losing streak to rival Hawkeyes and pulled out a 74-69 win behind Crooks’ dominant 30 points and 10 rebounds on 13 of 20 shooting in a season-high 36 minutes, handing coach Jan Jensen her first loss of the season.

With today’s win, the Cyclones moved to 11-0, marking their best start since the 2013-14 season, when they opened the year with 14 straight victories. And this one meant even more. It was their first win over the Hawkeyes since the 77-70 Cy-Hawk victory on December 8, 2021.

None of the players on the present-day Cyclones team had experienced the joy of beating their intrastate rival. For the current roster, this victory was a long time coming.

But it wasn’t an easy win by any stretch. The Cyclones looked in complete control, leading by 17 late in the third quarter, before the visitors came storming back with a massive 26-12 run that suddenly turned it into a three-point game in the final minutes. The Hawkeyes even had a chance to tie it, but Mackenzie Hare came up with the play of the night, blocking Taylor McCabe’s three-point attempt with 16 seconds left.

It was then Crooks who stepped to the line for the biggest free throws of the night. She calmly knocked down one of two to make it 73-69, effectively slamming the door on her rivals’ comeback hopes.

Watching Crooks play might take you back to those MyPlayer days on 2K when you were farming points just because you could. Because that’s what her season looks like in real life. Heading into this matchup, Crooks was scoring at a completely absurd pace. She was averaging more than a point per minute this season.

The junior had 276 points in just 245 minutes before facing the Hawkeyes, putting her on track to become the first Division I women’s player this century to average at least one point per minute. If she pulls it off, she would be just the second player in all of Division I (men or women), the NBA, or the WNBA this century to do it. The only other name on that list? A certain Joel Embiid (2023-24 season), as per analyst Rachel Galligan on X.

November was a special month for Crooks as she broke her program’s single-game scoring record with a ridiculous 43-point game against Valparaiso. She scored 44% of her team’s points in just 20 minutes, which made it look like she was going up against high schoolers. Crooks averaged 27.6 points per game, the highest in the nation, and had the second-highest field-goal percentage in the country.

Moving on, to understand just how important this win was for the fans, all you have to do is listen to what coach Bill Fennelly said afterward.

Audi Crooks’ head coach explains the importance of the win over the Iowa Hawkeyes

Historically, the Hawkeyes have always had the upper hand in this rivalry. They still lead the all-time series 32-24 despite tonight’s loss. According to reporter Tommy Birch, head coach Bill Fennelly said in the postgame press conference that he had 203 texts waiting for him after tonight’s win. After the Northern Illinois game (105-52)? Just one.

“It was my wife telling me to bring home something to eat.”

This pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how big this win was for the Cyclones. Their next matchup is against the Northern Iowa Panthers, a game they’re expected to handle super-comfortably, and another chance for Audi Crooks to add a few more entries to the record books.

Who knows, maybe even Ayoka Lee’s iconic 61-point NCAA single-game scoring record could be in danger…

At this point, with the way Crooks is playing, nothing feels impossible.