Tonya Burns rewrote the Cyclone basketball record book, becoming the first female ISU athlete to have her number retired. Iowa State honored Burns by retiring No. 42 at the basketball banquet following the 1985 season.

Burns owned or shared 33 Cyclone records at the end of her career, including the career scoring and rebounding marks with 1,789 points and 921 boards. Burns’ sophomore and junior seasons saw her earn second-team all-Big Eight honors. During her senior season, she twice was named Big Eight Conference Player of the Week. Burns capped off her senior season by being named first-team all-Big Eight, as well as first-team academic all-conference.

Burns set the single-game scoring mark with 42 points in a 1984 contest against Nebraska making 18 of 25 field goal attempts. Later that season she set the rebounding mark with 23 against Colorado. Burns scored double digits in 92 of her 114 career games.