After leading all scorers with 22 points in an 81-39 win against Southern, she has now scored double-digit points in 99 consecutive games. The only college game Crooks has failed to score at least 10 was the first game of her freshman season at Iowa State.
She crossed the 10-point mark with 3:33 to play in the second quarter with a jump shot.
Crooks was efficient from the floor, making nine of 10 shots and four of five free throws.
"It felt good to tip off and finally play people that aren't our scout guys," Crooks said. "First game on record, I think it felt good. Like Coach said, we had our highs, we had our lows, but overall I'm just excited to be out there playing with my teammates."
Oklahoma State wants to play defense, too
Offense and making 3-pointers are going to be the strength and identity of coach Jacie Hoyt’s Cowgirls.
They want to prove they can play a little defense, too.
After scoring 23 in the first half, Southern was held to four points in the third quarter and 12 in the fourth. The Jaguars shot 25.4% from the field.
"I think everyone wants to talk about our offense and that's the obvious thing that we should be good at, but defensively I was very pleased," Hoyt said. "I thought Nene (Ndiaye) did a great job picking the ball up full court and Callin (Hake) did a great job on ball. I thought our on-ball was really good and then off the ball we were figuring it out there as well. So, felt really good pretty much the whole game defensively."
OSU turned Southern over 18 times. The Jaguar turnovers led to 19 Cowgirl points.
Ndiaye led OSU with four steals. Senior Nebraska transfer Callin Hake had three.
"When we have so many scorers, people tend to think that we only care about the offense, but we've been playing really really hard on defense and I think it showed today," Ndiaye said.
OSU’s offense needs time to come together
OSU has two players who averaged at least 22 points at the power conference level last year in Crooks and Florida transfer point guard Liv McGill.
Monday, McGill was held to seven points on two for eight shooting.
Hoyt said it is still taking some time to blend all the offensive production together. OSU's 15 turnovers made that clear.
"We had some really good flashes, but I think in general it was just a little bit sticky," Hoyt said. "We didn't move the ball as well as I would like. Too many turnovers again but that's just a part of the process and I think the average person looks at this roster and thinks everything is going to translate immediately and that's just not real life."
Yuting Deng, Nene Ndiaye crack OSU's starting lineup
Crooks, McGill and the lone returning Cowgirl guard Stailee Heard were the obvious starters entering the season.
Ndiaye and Baylor transfer guard Yuting Deng earned starting spots in the season-opener.
Ndiaye led the Cowgirls in minutes, playing just less than 25 and Deng was third, playing just more than 24 minutes.
Deng led the Cowgirls with 12 rebounds and Ndiaye led the team with five free throws.
OSU's starting lineup vs Southern:
Point guard: Liv McGill
Guard: Yuting Deng
Forward: Nene Ndiaye
Guard: Stailee Heard
Center: Audi Crooks
Ben Hutchens covers OSU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ben? He can be reached at bhutchens@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ben_hutchens_. Sign up for OSU Sports Minute newsletter to access more coverage of the Cowboys and Cowgirls. Support Ben's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Audi Crooks 'felt good' in Oklahoma State women's basketball debut win vs Southern