The No. 19 Iowa State women’s basketball team will have to navigate the foreseeable future without one of its key starters.
The Cyclones announced junior forward Addy Brown ‘will be out indefinitely as she continues to recover from a lower body injury.’ Brown had missed the last two games, loses to Cincinnati and West Virginia.
After starting 14-0, the Iowa State is on a three-game losing streak ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against Colorado. The Cyclones are also without junior guard Arianna Jackson, who suffered a knee injury during the loss against Cincinnati.
‘There’s nothing worse than a kid getting hurt,’ Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. ‘And you only have a finite amount of time in your life where you get to be a college basketball player. Obviously, some of those opportunities won’t be there anymore.’
The Iowa State head coach was asked if Brown might return later this season.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I guess the best thing for me is just to say we’re going to just defer to what we’ve already said and let the healing begin, and hopefully something positive will come of it.’
Brown has started 83 games for the Cyclones and is the second leading scorer on the team (13.1 points a game) behind junior center Audi Crooks. Brown also leads Iowa State in rebounds (9.0 per game) and blocks (0.8 per game).
Iowa State plays Cincinnati again on Jan. 21. And, a week later, it has a matchup on Jan. 28 with the undefeated Texas Tech Lady Raiders (19-0).
‘The only thing we can really do is come closer together,’ Crooks said. ‘That’s the reality of the situation. We just have to face reality and do what we can moving forward.’