Emily Ryan

Photo by: KL6PHOTO LLC.

Action from NCAA womens basketball game between the UNO Mavericks and the Iowa State Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa on November 25, 2020. Photo © Wesley Winterink.

Photo by: Athletics Communications

Position:
Guard
Height:
5-11
Class:
Senior
High School:
Central Plains
Hometown:
Claflin, Kansas

Awards & Honors

Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team (2024)
Wooden Award Watch List (2025)
Naismith Trophy Watch List (2023, 2024, 2025)
Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List (2024, 2025)
All-Big 12 First Team (2022)
All-Big 12 Second Team (2023)
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention (2025)
Big 12 Player of the Week (2021-22: Jan. 10)
NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Greensboro Regional All-Tournament Team (2021-22)
Unanimous Big 12 All-Freshman Team (2020-21)
Big 12 Freshman of the Week (2020-21: Dec. 28, Jan. 18)
CSC Academic All-America Third Team (2025)
CSC Academic All-District (2025)
Academic All-Big 12 First Team (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25)
Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll (F20, S21, F21, S22, F22, S23, F23, S24, F24)

2024-25
Finished her career as one of Iowa State’s all-time greatest point guards, starting 34 games of her final season as the all-time Cyclones leader for assists (993) and free throw percentage (.885)… also finished with all-time top five marks in steals (2^nd, 228) and blocks (5^th, 109)… her career assists total saw her climb to No. 7 on the NCAA all-time leaderboard… became just the third NCAA women’s basketball player to accumulate over 1,500 points, 900 assists and 600 rebounds… set Iowa State single-season free throw percentage record, connecting on 94.4 percent (68-72) of attempts from the line… turned in a nearly perfect performance against Kansas on New Year’s Day, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor with six assists and two steals… tallied a season-high 20 points in Lawrence (Feb. 15), finishing 7-of-13 from the floor with six 3-pointers, six assists and two steals… in her Hilton Coliseum finale, she turned in one of the most impressive performances of her career, finishing with 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds to down No. 14 Kansas State and seal a bid for the fifth NCAA Tournament appearance of her career… leaves Ames as Iowa State’s 11^th all-time leading scorer with 1,632 points.

2023-24
Played in 24 games while making 16 starts after missing the first nine games of the season to injury... averaged 11.6 points, 6.9 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game... finishing the season with 165 assists, she became the only Cyclone to tally at least 150 dimes in each of her four seasons played... became ISU's all-time career assists leader against Baylor in the Big 12 Quarterfinals (Mar. 9) with her 746th career dime... her assist total secured the fifth-best season mark all-time by an ISU senior... scored career-high 36 points in NCAA Tournament Second Round loss at No. 2-seed Stanford (Mar. 24) with six 3-pointers and 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line... scored her 1,300th career point against the Cardinal, finishing the season with 1,301 points as ISU's 19th all-time leading scorer... finished the season with four double-doubles, all of them coming on points and assists combinations... posted a double-double in ISU's 20-point comeback win over Maryland in the NCAA Tournament First Round matchup, finishing with 18 points and 14 assists... finished the season 69-of-78 (.885) from the free throw line for the fifth-best single-season percentage in program history... made 34-consecutive free throws from Jan. 31 (at Oklahoma State) to Mar. 11 (Oklahoma), matching the 65th-longest streak in NCAA Division I women's basketball history... announced her plans to return to Iowa State for her fifth and final season on Mar. 1, 2024.

2022-23
Played and started all 32 games ... has started 70 consecutive games ... earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors while finishing fourth on team averaging 10.6 points ... played a team and Big 12-high 36.3 minutes per game ... has played 20 career complete games ... dished out 204 assists, becoming the first player in school history with two seasons of 200 dimes ... averaged 6.4 assists (2nd in Big 12 and ninth nationally), 5.4 rebounds (15th in Big 12) and 1.8 steals (8th in Big 12) ... shot 43.2 percent from the field and 36.4 percent behind the arc while posting the second-best single-season free-throw percentage in school history at 92.9 percent ... is third in school history with 617 assists, just 129 assists shy of breaking the school's career record ... became the 34th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points in ISU's Big 12 Championship quarterfinal win against Baylor on March 10 ... reached double-figure points in 19 games, double-figure rebounds four times and double-digit assists four times ... recorded five double-doubles and has 11 in her career ... scored a season-high 19 points against Southern ... dished out a season-high 12 assists against Baylor ... had 17 points, eight assists and just one turnover against Michigan State ... just missed a triple-double against Villanova, finishing with 16 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds ... scored 11 points against Toledo in the NCAA Tournament.

2021-22
Started in all 35 games for the Cyclones … averaged 13.1 points, 7.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 47.1 percent from the field, earning All-Big 12 First Team honors … ranked third nationally with her 7.1 assists per game, while her 249 assists were an ISU single-season record and tied for the ninth-most in Big 12 history … scored in double figures 26 times, including five 20-point efforts … went off for a career-high 29 points on 10-of-12 shooting at West Virginia … also had 10 made field goals in 22-point effort against Creighton in the Sweet 16 … after shooting 23.5 percent from 3-point range against non-conference competition, shot 54.1 percent from 3-point range in Big 12 games, finishing league games with 14.6 ppg … earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors after posting a then-career-high 22 points at No. 23 Oklahoma … had six games with at least 10 assists … recorded a school record 17 assists at TCU, having previously matched ISU’s school record with 16 against West Virginia … had 15 vs. Prairie View A&M to go with 0 turnovers, recording only the 10th game in NCAA Division I women’s college basketball with at least 15 assists and no turnovers since 1999-00 … was the only player in NCAA Division I in 2021-22 with multiple 15 assist games … led Iowa State with 62 steals, setting Iowa State’s school record for a game with nine against Omaha in season-opener … led Iowa State in minutes played, averaging 36.6 per contest … played every second of seven games, including two of ISU’s three NCAA Tournament contests … played all but 16 seconds of the Cyclones’ Big 12 Championship semifinal contest vs. Texas (March 12) that went to overtime.

2020-21
Started in 26 of Iowa State’s 28 games on the season…averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and a team high 5.9 assists per game, while shooting 41.9 percent from the field…was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team…her 5.9 assists per game ranked second in the Big 12 and 11th in the nation on the year…also ranks sixth nationally in total assists on the year with 155, also setting a new Iowa State freshmen record…tallied her first double-double and 20-point outing against Drake, netting 20 points off 7-of-9 shooting and dishing out10 dimes in a win over the Bulldogs… netted 14 points and dished a career-high 12 assists in a win at Texas Tech, going 4-of-8 from long range, while adding four boards…netted 15 points, grabbed five boards and dished three assists in Iowa State’s historic win at No. 6 Baylor…tallied a career-high 21 points off 7-of-12 shooting while adding five assists and three boards in a sweep of the Lady Raiders…netted 13 points and dished nine assists in the Cyclones home win over West Virginia…netted 19 points and dished six dimes in ISU’s Big 12 Tournament game against the Longhorns…tallied nine points and dished six assists in ISU’s NCAA Tournament first-round win over Michigan State…scored 10 points and dished nine dimes against No. 2 seed Texas A&M.

Prior to Iowa State
Averaged 27.4 points in her senior campaign and closed her high school career with over 3,000 points …is just the third player to reach 3,000 points in the state of Kansas, joining Jackie Stiles (3,603) and Laurie Koehn (3,160)…set a state record with 599 career steals…set a state record in field-goal percentage, shooting 79.6 percent her senior year and 73.8 percent for her career…never lost a game in high school, going 104-0 winning three state titles… was a consensus Player of the Year in the state of Kansas, and was also named the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year in 2018… was ranked No. 70 overall by ESPN.

Personal
Daughter of Jim and Lisa Ryan... has four siblings, Michael, Janae, Devin and Peyton... also competed on the tennis and track squads for Central Plains High School... was a four-time tennis singles regional champion and All-State selection... State Runner-Up in tennis singles in her final three high school seasons... also a high jump State Runner-Up as a freshman... majoring in kinesiology.