Crooks rallies Cyclones past Terps

STANFORD, CALIF.>> Freshman Audi Crooks scored a career-high 40 points on 18-for20 shooting in her sensational NCAA Tournament debut, 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 9386 on Friday night.

The 20-point comeback marked the second-largest alltime in an NCAA Tournament game trailing only Texas A&M overcoming a 21-point deficit to beat Penn in 2017.

Emily Ryan knocked down a key 3-pointer with 6:06 remaining and finished with 18 points while dishing out 14 assists as Iowa State kept pounding the ball inside to the ever-reliable Crooks — even when it led to a handful of late turnovers.

Crooks, the program’s first freshman to earn AP All-america honors with her honorable mention selection this week, came in leading the team averaging 18.9 points and 7.7 rebounds and became the 16th player to score 40 or more this season. She had 12 rebounds against Maryland.

Allie Kubek knocked down all five of her 3-pointers in the first half and finished with seven from long range on the way to a season-best 29 points, and it looked like Maryland might run away from the Cyclones.

Instead, it’s Iowa State (21-11) advancing to play Sunday for a spot in the Portland Regional, its opponent to be either No. 2 seed Stanford or 15th-seeded Norfolk State with those teams playing Friday’s late game at Maples Pavilion.

Kelsey Joens hit a tying 3-pointer with 3:20 left in the third quarter as Iowa State used a 10-0 run to get back in the game.