Audi Crooks makes history in Bishop Garrigan's Iowa girls basketball state quarterfinal victory
The No. 1 Algona Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears took another step closer to their goal of repeating as Class 1A state champions with their imposing quarterfinals win over the No. 8 Martensdale-St. Marys Blue Devils, 67-44.
It came after a historic performance for Golden Bears' senior and Iowa State signee Audi Crooks, who broke the Class 1A single-game tournament scoring record by dropping 42 points. The previous record of 38 points was set in 2017 by Marissa Schroeder of Marquette Catholic.
Her performance also made her the all-time leading scorer at the state tournament across all classes. She currently sits at 257 points.
Crooks said she's humbled by the impact she's had at the tournament and that she is happy to be a part of the illustrious history of girls sports.
"I am really appreciative of these last four years," Crooks said. "I am just happy that I was able to contribute to Bishop Garrigan athletics, to girls basketball, and the meaning of being an 'Iowa Girl'. Especially with the movement going on with women in sports."
More: Iowa high school girls basketball state tournament scores and schedule
Bishop Garrigan's win over St. Marys was never in doubt
The opening quarter could not have gone any better for the Golden Bears.
They got out to a strong 21-4 lead which was helped by shooting 53% from the field, allowing the Blue Devils to hit on just 25% of their shots, and forcing five steals.
Bishop Garrigan coach Brandon Schwab wanted his team to control the game from the opening tip. They did just that.
"Our goal was to take anything that was not in our control out of the game," Schwab said. "We wanted to be the aggressors and make sure that we throw that first punch in the first three or four minutes of each quarter. I think that our players did a really good job of breaking the game up and winning those spurts."
The second quarter was a better overall showing for the Blue Devils. They doubled their offensive output and managed to take the load off of junior Hadley Pearson, who scored the team's first 7 points.
Then other players got in on the action, with juniors Brynnly German, Sophia Shannon and Campbell German all scoring at least 1 point before halftime.
More: How to watch, stream and follow 2023 Iowa high school state girls basketball tournament
That proved to be a positive sign for the third quarter, where the team had its best offensive period of the night. They scored 17 points and had a game-high two 3-pointers in the period.
Though the late push was not enough to lead them to the improbable comeback, St. Marys coach Tim Baker said that he hopes that the team uses the loss as motivation going forward.
"A year ago, we went into a regional final up by 11 points and ended up losing that game," Baker said. "That fueled the fire for us to want to do more this year so that we made it to this point. So, hopefully, the feelings that we have now will propel us into some good work in the off-season and then in the regular season."
Bishop Garrigan will take the court again on Friday where they will face the winner between No. 4 Remsen-St. Mary's and No. 5 West Fork in the state semifinals at 1:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Audi Crooks sets Class 1A single-game state tournament scoring record
