By Hawk Fanatic

The Iowa women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season at Iowa State on Wednesday, falling 74-69 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

But the Hawkeyes didn’t go down without a fight as they outscored Iowa State 21-13 in the fourth quarter, trimming a 17-point deficit to just three points.

In the end, though, it was just too much of Audi Crooks as Iowa State’s star center scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help her team withstand Iowa’s fourth-quarter comeback.

Crooks entered the game as the nation’s leading scorer with a 27.6 average and the Cyclones needed all of her points to survive Iowa’s late run.

Crooks also had help from forward Addy Brown, who finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, and point guard Jada Williams, who scored 11 points and dished out 12 assists.

Iowa fell to 9-1 on the season, while the Cyclones improved to 11-0.

“I didn’t really know how good we were yet, quite honestly, coming in here,” said Iowa head coach Jan Jensen. “And I knew we’d find out a whole lot with this type of environment.

“So just credit them (Iowa State), what a great team.”

Iowa entered Wednesday’s game having won 11 straight games against instate opponents.

Wednesday’s game also marked the first time in 21 years that both teams entered the game undefeated.

Jensen was proud of the way her team battled back in the fourth quarter after being outscored 26-13 in the third quarter.

“I think it was a heck of a game,” Jensen said. “I mean I know it was all the third quarter to me. So you can choose to look at just the third quarter and just be really disappointed about it. But there’s going to be a lot of teams that come in here and that happens in the third quarter and they don’t get a fourth quarter like we had.

“So I am really proud. That is a great team, Iowa State, and they had a lot to do with it. But we had a little bit to do with it, too.”

Sophomore point guard Chit-Chat Wright led Iowa with 21 points, showing that she is now healthy after having missed three games due to what was described as an upper-body injury. The Georgia Tech transfer was among four Iowa players that scored in double figures.

Wright and Jada Williams both took recruiting visits to Iowa this past offseason as Iowa looked to solidify the point guard position.

Williams would ultimately pick Iowa State, while Wright chose Iowa.

So far, it seems to be working out for both players.

“I felt great coming into the game,” Wright said. “I just knew with my first real game back that there was going to be some highs and lows. So I just tried to stay really level-headed throughout the game, and just rely on my teammates to give me that confidence.”

Senior forward Hannah Stuelke scored 10 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in Wednesday’s game before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Taylor McCabe and graduate guard Kylie Feuerbach also scored in double figures for Iowa with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Fouls were a problem for Iowa throughout the game as sophomore center Ava Heiden also fouled out, due mostly from trying to defend Crooks near the basket. Heiden only played 16 minutes and finished with just eight points and two rebounds, well below her team-leading per-game averages.

Iowa also missed six of 12 free throw attempts, and was outrebounded 39-32, helping Iowa State have a 12-3 advantage in second-chance points.

Feuerbach, who played for Iowa State as a freshman before transferring to Iowa, made a 3-point basket right before the buzzer to end the first quarter, giving Iowa a 23-19 lead after 10 minutes.

Wright scored seven points in the first quarter and she also had one assist and one steal while playing the entire 10 minutes.

Crooks scored eight points in the first quarter on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.

Iowa State built a 33-26 lead in the second quarter, but then Iowa responded with a 9-0 scoring run.

The Cyclones then made a basket with 21 seconds left in the second quarter to even the score at 35-35, and that would be all the points scored in the first half as Iowa failed to get a shot off on its last possession.

Crooks led the Cyclones with 14 points in the first half, while Wright led Iowa with 13 points.

The statistics in the first half, in addition to tie score, showed just how competitive the game was as Iowa had an 18-17 rebounding advantage and a 6-5 advantage in bench points, while Iowa State had a 24-16 advantage in points in the paints, thanks largely to Crooks, a 7-to-4 advantage in points off turnovers and a 12-to-8 advantage in assists.

Iowa State shot 50 percent in the first half while Iowa shot 48 percent.

There were also five ties in the first half and nine lead changes.

Iowa also had eight turnovers in the first half, while Iowa State had seven.

What transpired in the first half set the stage for an intriguing second half between two evenly matched instate rivals.

The third quarter didn’t start well for Iowa, though, as Heiden picked up her third foul just seconds into the quarter.

Iowa State scored the first six points in the third quarter, causing Iowa to call a time out with 7 minutes, 36 seconds left in the quarter.

Instead of sitting Heiden for an extended period, Jensen put her back in the game shortly after having Heiden had picked up her third foul because Iowa State was threatening to break the game open.

Heiden then picked up her fourth foul with 3:19 seconds left in the third quarter while trying to defend Crooks in the paint.

“I thought we were in a pretty good spot coming in at halftime,” Jensen said. “I think that when Ava picked up her fourth, it gives another team a little confidence.”

Taylor McCabe made a three in the closing seconds of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 61-48, but the Cyclones still outscored Iowa 26-13 in the quarter.

The 13-point deficit would prove to be too much to overcome, though Iowa did make it interesting down the stretch.

McCabe had a chance to tie the score in the final minutes, but her 3-point shot bounced off the rim.

“I feel much more positive than negative,” Jensen said. “I just think it was a great five-point game. It was within a possession. Had McCabe hit that play we drew up, it was tied. It was that close even with a heck of run that they orchestrated. But yet, we clawed back. So I’m really pleased. I think people watching that game, I think it was a fun game.

“I think we hopefully enhanced why we want to watch women’s sports.”

Iowa will face Lindenwood on Saturday in its final nonconference home game before facing top-ranked Connecticut on Dec. 20 in Brooklyn, New York.