STANFORD, California – Iowa State (21-12, 12-6 Big 12) lost a heartbreaker to No. 4 Stanford (30-5, 15-3 Pac-12) on Sunday night 87-81 in overtime in the second round of the NCAA Championship. The Cyclones were led by an elite 36-point performance by Emily Ryan, making for the second straight game a Cyclone has scored 30-plus.
Iowa State came out hot shooting at 6-of-8 from deep to lead 23-16 after the opening quarter, while Ryan put up a 15-point first half giving Iowa State a 33-31 edge. In a game of 18 lead changes and 12 ties, the Cyclones gave the Cardinal all they could take forcing overtime but came up short to end a memorable season.
Ryan was magnificent throughout the night, going out to a career-high 36 for her first 30 point game. That total now ties the second-highest single-game mark in ISU NCAA Tournament history, matching Ashley Joens’ mark set in the first round in 2022. The guard made 12 field goals to set the second-highest single-game program total. Ryan, who officially broke the NCAA Championships career assist program assist record in the first round, upped the record to 57. Ryan brings her tournament assist total to 18, tying the No. 5 single-tournament total in school history.
Ryan came one rebound shy of a double-double while adding four assists, two blocks and a steal to her final stat line. Ryan had six 3-pointers to match her career high.
Addy Brown had a stellar night totaling 18 points (7-of-11 shooting) and four 3-pointers to match her career high. ISU totaled 12 3-pointers, its 11th game with 10 or more 3-pointers. Audi Crooks had her 32nd-straight double-figure scoring outing with 10 points, also pulling down eight rebounds.
How it Happened
Hannah Belanger cut into Stanford’s 4-0 lead with a 3-pointer to get ISU on the board at the 7:26 mark. Ryan would then bring the contest to a tie at 6s with another shot from deep less than a minute later. Belanger remained hot, sending in a jumper to make it 10-8, Stanford, with 5:33 to go in the first. After Stanford took a lead of five, Crooks would spark a run of 12 including three straight deep shots by Brown and Ryan, causing Iowa State to run out to a lead of 20-13. Ryan’s third 3-pointer would end the quarter with Iowa State ahead 23-16.
Stanford would open the quarter knotting the score 23-23, but the Cyclones would retake a lead on a Belanger jumper midway through the second frame. Stanford would then flip the lead, but ISU took it right back after Crooks pulled down the offensive board and sent in the layup to make it 27-26. With ISU down two, Ryan delivered the clutch layup with under a minute remaining but was not done there. With one second on the clock, Ryan drew the foul and proceeded to make her free throws to give the Cyclones a two-point advantage of 33-31 at the half.
Arianna Jackson would sink the Cyclones’ seventh 3 as ISU opened the second half ahead 37-33. The battle of lead changes continued with Jalynn Bristow driving to the basket through contact, following to make her shot from the charity stripe to put Iowa State in front 44-40 as the clock read 5:29. Ryan would then make buckets on straight ISU possessions and break over 20 points while giving ISU a 48-44 lead. The game again saw a tie, this one at 50s headed into the final quarter.
Stanford would take the first five points of the fourth as ISU called a timeout, and the Cyclones would respond bringing it back to a one-point game. With Stanford up 57-54 at 7:02, Ryan hit her fourth shot from beyond the arc to match the home team. With 4:08 left to play and the game knotted 61-61, Ryan continued her heroics with her fifth shot from deep. With just over a minute to go, Brown delivered a crucial layup to make the score 66-66. As time ran out, Stanford would miss the game-winning shot to send the game to overtime.
Stanford scored first, but Ryan hit her sixth triple and ISU’s 10th to take a 70-69 lead. Stanford followed to go up 71-69 but Brown has the answer with another 3. Bristow scored on the put back to make it 74-74, and made another layup on the next possession to make it 76-76. As the home team then led by two (80-78), Brown netted her third from deep but Stanford hit a 3 of their own to lead 83-81 with 18.4 on the clock. Brown drove to the net fighting through Cardinal defenders, but missed the tying bucket. ISU was then forced to foul as Stanford would go on to win it 87-81.
Top Performance
Emily Ryan made her first three 3-point attempts, leading a spark to Cyclone scoring as Iowa State battled the Top 5 team until the final buzzer. Ryan’s 36-point performance was her second 20-plus point game of the season and ninth of her career. It was also her 65th career 10-plus point performance.
