AMES, Iowa — Her sophomore year couldn’t have started much better.
The Iowa State Cyclones and Greenfield-Central graduate Madison Wise have started their new season perfect, rolling to a 4-0 record and a preseason WNIT championship.
Sunday’s 75-52 win against No. 24 Miami was followed an individual honor for Wise. For her role in the Cyclones’ hot start, she was named to the all-tournament team, one of six players to be honored from among the 16 teams in the tournament.
“To be able to be named to the all-tournament team is such a blessing,” Wise said. “I think the whole team deserved it. We all played so hard and with so much heart.”
Wise averaged 10.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in the tournament. She scored eight points in an opening 95-35 win against Niagara. She scored 12 points in a 70-60 second-round win against Northern Illinois, and added 13 points in helping Iowa State outlast Auburn, 67-64, in the semifinals.
She scored nine points and added six rebounds, three assists and a steal in the championship-game victory against the ranked Hurricanes.
The Greenfield native averaged 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game as a freshman last year, starting 28 of the team’s 31 games.
The Cyclones went 14-17 last year. Wise attributes the strong start to the 2018-19 campaign to a variety of factors.
“We’ve worked really hard in the offseason to get where we are,” she said. “We’ve put in a lot of time conditioning, in the weight room, and extra hours in the gym. Our whole team has really bought in to the process and our roles no matter what they are — scoring, rebounding, making a good pass or cheering on the bench.”
She’s hopeful that the early tournament win is just the start of a successful sophomore season.
“This WNIT championship is a great start to the season, but we have to continue to build off of it and not let it be the highest point in our season,” she said. “It’s just one high of the many to come. During my four years at Greenfield we had some of the best high school crowds in the nation, and now, playing in front of the best college fans in the country is amazing.”