KANSAS CITY, Mo. – As Iowa State sophomore Addy Brown sank the second of her two free throws with 47.8 seconds remaining in Thursday’s game with Arizona State, a big round of applause rang out around the T-Mobile Center.

The buckets were the finishing touches on a memorable night for the Iowa State women’s basketball star.

Brown finished with a career-high 41 points as Iowa State beat Arizona State 96-88 in the second round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

The Cyclones advanced to Friday’s 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal against No. 18 Baylor, and Brown was the primary reason.

The versatile forward broke Iowa State’s single-game record for points in a Big 12 Tournament game, passing Ashley Joens’ mark of 33 set in 2022 against Texas.

Brown came within a point of Iowa State’s single-game mark of 42 points set by Tonya Burns in 1984. She did plenty to help the Cyclones win their third straight game and move on.

It was apparent early on that Brown was on her way to a huge day. Brown connected on five of her first eight shots from the field and had 13 points. She hit back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 9-0 run that gave Iowa State a 15-11 lead. She was just getting started.

Brown tallied 11 more points in the second quarter and had 24 of Iowa State’s 45 first-half points. The Cyclones, who led by 11 at halftime, got even more from Brown in the second half. She had eight points in a 10-0 run that pushed Iowa State’s lead to 60-40 during the third quarter. The final basket in that run, a layup and made free throw by Brown, gave her a new career-high with 4:43 left.

Brown checked out of the game with 32.2 seconds remaining.

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

The No. 8 Michigan State Spartans will travel to play their final road game of the season against the Iowa Hawkeyes. In recent years, Michigan State hasn’t fared well at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, losing all its trips to Iowa City since 2020.

In their last visit, the Hawkeyes came back from an unimaginable deficit, as the Spartans held a 13-point lead with only two minutes remaining. 

Iowa’s clutch three-point shooting stunned Michigan State, forcing the game to overtime. Fran McCaffery’s team carried the momentum from the final minutes of regulation to secure the 112-106 win.

Michigan State has had trouble slowing down the Hawkeyes’ best scorers recently. In 2022, former Iowa forward Keegan Murray led the way with a game-high 28 points, leading to a 26-point blowout for the Hawkeyes.

In 2021, it was all-American forward Luka Garza who dominated the Spartans, scoring 27 points in a 84-78 win.

For the Spartans to break their losing streak at Carver-Hawkeye, they will need to stop Iowa’s leading scorer, Payton Sandfort. The forward averages 16 points per game and will have extra motivation, as it will be the final game of Sandfort’s career at Carver-Hawkeyes, as Thursday’s game against Michigan State is senior night.

But Iowa hasn’t been the same team as in years past. Traditionally, the Hawkeyes are tough to play on their home court. However, they are just 4-4 in conference play on their home court this season. 

The Spartans have been a dangerous visiting team, going 7-2 on the road this season, with their only two losses coming after a long-distance road trip, losing to USC and UCLA.

With Michigan dropping its most recent game to Maryland, Spartans head coach Tom Izzo has already clinched confernece title No. 11, tying the Big Ten record with legendary coaches Bob Knight and Ward Lambert. Izzo has also already broken one of Knight’s records this season. The record for Big Ten conference wins, earning win No. 354 against Illinois on February 15.

However, Izzo’s squad still has something to play for. The Spartans can clinch the outright Big Ten regular-season title with a win and squander any hope of bitter rival, Michigan, sharing the conference title.

Tip-off for Michigan State against Iowa is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday.

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