Freshman Audi Crooks scores 40 to lead Iowa State comeback - ESPN

STANFORD, Calif. — Audi Crooks grabbed the Iowa State nameplate and emphatically placed it on the big NCAA tournament bracket board, into the space for the second round.

She absolutely earned the chance to do so.

«That was so fun, my teammates soaked me in water,» she said, still grinning from ear to ear some 30 minutes later.

The freshman star scored a career-high 40 points — the most by a freshman in women's NCAA tournament history — on 18-for-20 shooting, and No. 7 seed Iowa State hit all the big shots in the second half to rally from 20 points down and beat 10th-seeded Maryland 93-86 on Friday night.

The 20-point comeback marked the second-largest all time in a women's NCAA tournament game, trailing only Texas A&M overcoming a 21-point deficit to beat Penn in 2017.

«I thought that was one of the most entertaining games I've ever been a part of,» Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said, praising his team's poise to charge back. «So proud of our team, ecstatic for them.»

Fighting tears, Crooks shared how she takes a moment before every game to be spiritual, pray and remember her father Jimmie who died when she was 16 in 2021. She committed to Iowa State shortly after that, and Fennelly even went to her favorite Mexican restaurant during the recruiting process although it's not his favorite fare.

«I'm just grateful, I can't say thank you enough to the people that I'm surrounded by,» Crooks said. «When you're surrounded by people that you love, that care about you, that trust you as much as they do getting you the ball, that speaks volumes to how we play as a unit.»

Crooks became just the fourth player in Iowa State program history to score 40 points in a game. Her performance marked the most points in an NCAA debut in the