Audi Crooks

AMES — Iowa State junior center Audi Crooks have been named to the Wade Trophy watch list, announced by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. It is the second year in a row that Crooks has appeared on the award’s watch list.

Crooks enters her junior season as one of the most dominant low posts in the country. She is the only Cyclone women’s basketball player to earn All-America and unanimous all-conference honors in her first two seasons.

The Algona native improved upon an impressive freshman season, setting single-season points (820) and made field goals (329) records at ISU. She led the Big 12 Conference with 23.4 points per game while shooting over 60 percent from the floor.

On Jan. 5 in her 49th career game, Crooks scored her 1,000th career point and became the fastest Cyclone and third-fastest Big 12 women’s basketball player to the milestone. She scored in double figures in every game in 2024-25 and has an active streak of 68 games over her career.

The two-time Big 12 selection picked up right where she left off to start her junior season, pouring in a game-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor.

As a sophomore, Crooks finished seven games with 30-plus points and 23 of 35 games with 20 or more points. The 6-foot-3 center notched a season-high 36 points, going 14-of-18 from the floor and 8-of-11 from the free throw line against then-No. 14 Kansas State to lead the Cyclones to an 85-63 victory in the regular season finale.

She led ISU to an NCAA Tournament win over Princeton with 27 points, helping head coach Bill Fennelly to his 800th career win in his 30th season.

Crooks enters her junior season as Iowa State’s 14th all-time leading scorer with 1,455 points. At this time, she holds the top mark for Iowa State career scoring average (21.4 ppg), the third-highest career field goal percentage (.592) and the eighth-most made field goals (587).