Class 1A Girls State Basketball Tournament
Algona Bishop Garrigan 67, Martensdale St. Marys 44

Audi Crooks has put big numbers throughout her career and her latest performance was more noteworthy than most.

Crooks scored 42 points to break the Class 1A tournament record and defending champion Algona Bishop Garrigan cruised past Martensdale-St. Marys 67-44 to start the quarterfinal round in their class.

The 6-foot-3 senior, who has signed with Iowa State, dropped in 20 of 25 shots, all from right around the basket, pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked three shots as the top-seeded Golden Bears moved another step closer to a fourth straight appearance in the title game.

Crooks banked in a layup with 6:12 left in the game to break the old 1A record of 38 points by Marissa Schroeder of Marquette Catholic in 2017. She added another bucket on a putback at the 5:10 mark, then watched the rest of the game from the bench.

The overall tournament record is 48 points by Elle Ruffridge of Pocahontas in 2017. Ruffridge watched Crooks rack up the points as the color commentator on the live stream of the game.

Molly Joyce added seven points, eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals for Garrigan, while Ashlyn Hovey and Emmi Bartolo both found space on the perimeter to knock down a pair of 3-pointers and finish with six points apiece.

Ellie Baker and Brynnly German scored eight points each for Martensdale-St. Marys, which was the 1A champion in 2011. The Blue Devils kept playing hard despite falling 25 points behind in the first half and finished 21-5. All but one of those losses came to state tournament qualifiers.

Crooks had three baskets before the game was 90 seconds old, helping the Golden Bears race to a 13-0 lead. They stretched the lead to 32-7 in the second quarter and led 36-12 at halftime. Cooks then tacked on 16 of her team’s 22 points in the third quarter and it became a question of not if she’d set the record but when.

While she got most of her points posting up or on putbacks, four times she ran the floor, deftly caught long passes from Joyce and softly banked the ball into the basket. She ran her career totals to 2,659 points and 1,313 rebounds. Both rank fourth on the state’s all-time list.

Bishop Garrigan lost in the championship game in 2020 and 2021 before winning last year. The Golden Bears have won 24 straight since losing to Hopkins, Minnesota, in their opener and will play next in a semifinal game at 1:30 p.m. Friday.