Oklahoma State spoils Iowa State's senior night, 88-77, Wednesday at Hilton

AMES — Iowa State star center Audi Crooks teared up when asked to describe what senior teammate Sydney Harris means to her.

The Cyclones had just lost, 88-77, to Oklahoma State in Harris’ last game at Hilton Coliseum on Wednesday, but Crooks’ tears were based on anything but basketball.

Harris — who drained a 3-pointer on a play drawn up for her to start the game — is her roommate. Her best friend. Funny, loyal and dependable.

“She’s been there with me through the ups and downs of the seasons, and we’ve had some good times,” said Crooks, who scored 19 points as ISU (21-8, 9-8 Big 12) fell to the Cowgirls (22-8, 11-6) for the second time this season. “I remember when we first met, I knew that this was gonna be my girl. This is gonna by my bestie. I’m just grateful that God placed her in my life and we got these two years together.”

Harris went 4-for-8 from 3-point range in her final game at Hilton, and that initial long-range basket sparked an 11-0 run that put Oklahoma State on its heels.

The Cowgirls called timeout, regrouped, and guard Stailee Heard — who notched a triple-double in the previous meeting with the Cyclones — went to work.

Heard drilled three of her five 3-pointers in a span of 4:21 to give Oklahoma State a 15-13 lead that quickly extinguished ISU’s hot start. The Cyclones would battle back to lead by as many as seven points after that, but a quick-hit 10-0 Cowgirls run in the fourth quarter essentially sealed the game.

“Her motor is always running,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said of Heard, who finished with game highs in both points (22) and Rebounds (14), while adding four steals. “I have great respect for her because that kid plays the game hard. And everyone goes, ‘Well, doesn’t everyone?’ No. They don’t. She plays the game hard every play and she plays 40 minutes.”

Cyclones point guard Jada Williams led her team in minutes with 35:07 and matched Crooks with 19 points. She also dished out 10 assists to record her eighth double-double this season.

But scoring wasn’t ISU’s problem on senior night. Wednesday’s outcome hinged on getting stops and limiting second-chance opportunities, and Oklahoma State shot 63.3 percent in the second half while outrebounding the Cyclones 19-to-9 in the final 20 minutes. The Cowgirls also outscored ISU 46-to-26 in the paint and deftly executed their pick-and-roll actions.

“That’s really what killed us tonight,” said Crooks, who became the Cyclones’ second all-time leading scorer in the loss. “The inability to guard the ball screen in the middle of the floor.”

Harris couldn’t be successfully guarded on her first of four 3-pointers that swished through the net just 14 seconds into the game. It’s a memory she’ll cherish, despite the loss.

“Thanks to coach (Fennelly) for knowing what today was and having that trust in me to take the shot and hopefully make it,” Harris said. “It was able to go down, so that was good.”

So was Harris’ two-season career at Hilton.

“Hilton Magic is real,” she said. “It stinks we weren’t able to get a win (Wednesday), but the crowd was into it the whole game. … It’s bigger than basketball at the end of the day.”

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