AMES – The Iowa State women’s basketball team has already faced its share of tough times throughout the non-conference schedule this year. But every time the Cyclones suffered a setback, they bounced back.

The 17^th-ranked Cyclones recovered from a loss to instate rival Iowa earlier in the week by beating Eastern Illinois 87-55 at Hilton Coliseum on Sunday. Iowa State improved to 9-3 on the season.

Audi Crooks tallied a game-high 30 points and grabbed four rebounds for the Cyclones, who have won four of their last five games and once again successfully came back from a loss.

“We probably had the best practice of the season on Friday,” said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. “That’s a credit to them. It’s a credit to my staff for keeping them engaged. So, (I’m) really, really happy with that.”

Some of Iowa State’s best moments this season have come following losses.

Four days after losing at Northern Iowa, the Cyclones won a thrilling matchup with another instate opponent in Drake. After getting pummeled by the reigning national champions from South Carolina, Iowa State tallied a nice win over Middle Tennessee.

While this wasn’t one of the Cyclones’ finer moments following a loss, it was still a win. Free throws and turnovers, which haunted Iowa State in its loss to the Hawkeyes, improved Sunday, especially the charity stripe where the Cyclones shot 14-for-16.

Still, Iowa State struggled to pull away from an Eastern Illinois team that fell to 3-6 on the season. The Cyclones did seem poised to pull away early, though. They closed out the first quarter with a 9-0 run. The run morphed to 14-0 with Iowa State scoring the first few points of the second quarter.

The Cyclones took a 28-12 lead on a 3-pointer by Sydney Harris and a pair of made free throws by Crooks. But the Panthers stayed within striking distance most of the evening and cut the lead to single digits in the second half. Iowa State’s lead even dwindled down to eight late in the third quarter.

“Kind of the perfect storm kind of game,” Fennelly said. “I’m not taking anything away from Eastern Illinois. It was just 5 o’clock on a Sunday and we’re trying to get out of here (for a road trip) in an hour and have finals (Monday).”

But a layup by Crooks and a big 3-pointer by freshman Aili Tanke gave the Cyclones a 60-47 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Iowa State rolled from there, going on a 9-0 run to take control of the game for good.

Addy Brown finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for Iowa State. She and Crooks combined to score 19 of Iowa State’s 22 points in the third quarter. Crooks had one of her best games of the season, connecting on 12-of-16 shots from the field while going 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

“We wanted to come out from half and make a statement,” Brown said. “I think we were kind of sloppy the first half and the score kind of showed that. It was still a game at the time.”

But not for much longer. Iowa State outscored Eastern Illinois 27-8 in the fourth quarter. The Cyclones shot 53.4% (31-58) from the field including 45.8% (11-24) from 3-point range.

The schedule gets considerably more challenging for the Cyclones moving forward. Iowa State players and coaches were scheduled to leave Ames shortly after Sunday’s game for the Invesco QQQ Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase in Connecticut.

The Cyclones play No. 2 UConn on Tuesday. It’s the final non-conference game for Iowa State, which embarks on Big 12 Conference play on Dec. 21 at Oklahoma State. The Cyclones were picked to finish second in the Big 12 this season.

“Now it gets really, really hard for the rest of the time,” Fennelly said. “But our team’s excited about it and I’m happy with the way we finished today.”

Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468