Cyclone wbb making reservations at the Hilton

AMES — Bill Fennelly is breathing a little easier these days.

Barring an utter collapse or the swine flu infecting a half-dozen players, Iowa State (16-3, 4-2 Big 12) has to feel awfully good about its chances of playing at Hilton Coliseum in late March and putting fannies in the seats.

Hilton is one of 16 sites for first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games.

The Cyclones’ 63-56 victory over No. 11 Oklahoma (14-5, 4-2) on Wednesday only enhances their postseason resume that also includes a win at No. 19 Texas.

After an 0-2 start in the league, ISU has ripped off four straight victories and is finally seeing the balance the coach had hoped would be there by this point in the season.

That was evident agianst the Sooners.

Reserves combined for 14 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman Jessica Schroll ripped down 11 big rebounds and scored four points. Amanda Zimmerman added six points and Whitney Williams scored three and had a key assist to Kelsey Bolte late in the game.

“It’s the best our bench has played in a long time,” Fennelly said. “It was outstanding.”

Schroll responded well to being benched and berated after drawing a technical foul against Texas. Fennelly chewed her out, sat her at the end of the bench and did not play her the rest of the game.

The 5-11 guard got herself out of the doghouse and logged a career-high 32 minutes against OU.

“She came out and played with the energy and effort that this team needed,” Fennelly said. “That showed a lot of maturity on her part and I’m very proud of her for doing that. Most young people would not have acted that way considering what she’s gone through the last three days.

“She has obviously been raised right and coached right by other people.”

Lacey has played at an all-Big 12 level all season. Bolte is finally coming around in league games and asserting herself offensively.

The newcomers are fitting in and proving they can perform in crunch time. 

“I hope what is says is that our players are understanding and embracing the process,” Fennelly said. “Defensively we’ve been good most of the year. Now we are getting just enough scoring at just the right time. We are taking care of the ball and we have a great point guard.”

ISU plays at Kansas State Sunday.

Cyclone freshmen ready to build on Elite Eight run

AMES – The buzz with Iowa State’s memorable run through the NCAA women’s basketball tournament stretched all the way to Colorado, where Anna Prins was screaming just as loudly and gnawing her fingernails just as vigorously.

The Cyclones marched on to the Elite Eight, and Prins, a November signee, was watching every minute, wishing she was a part of this March Madness.

“It made my heart race a few times,” Prins said.

The freshman center from Broomfield, Colo., one of the top post recruits nationally, has dreams of taking the Cyclones to even greater heights over the next four years.

“It would be awesome to make a Final Four, or even better,” Prins said. “We just have to work really, really hard and focus on our goal. “

An accomplishment that grand depends largely on Prins and the rest of ISU’s freshman class. Coach Bill Fennelly’s rotation will be heavy on youth. Prins, who stands 6-foot-6, likely will be in the center of it all.

Seniors Nicky Wieben, Heather Ezell, Amanda Nisleit, Jocelyn Anderson and Toccara Ross are gone. Would-be sophomores Ashley Arlen, Alexis Yackley and Claire Rockall also left the program.

Four freshmen and junior college transfer Chassidy Cole are going to have to help fill the void.

“It pushes us to work harder in the offseason to earn our spot and play to our potential,” said freshman forward Chelsea Poppens. “We know (Fennelly) expects a lot of us now that there are not as many returning sophomores. He expects us to step up.”

Last year’s team finished 27-9 overall and 11-5 in the Big 12 Conference.

They tied the school record for victories and finished 17^th in the final Associated Press poll. It was the Cyclones’ second Elite Eight in the 10 NCAA tournament appearances over Fennelly’s 13 seasons.

The bar already was set awfully high. It’s even higher now.

“You want to keep that bar high,” Poppens said. “It’s good pressure.”

Prins welcomes the expectations, feeling the team will be able to live up to them.

“It’s not so much pressure,” she said. “The way I look at it, it’s a challenge.  I’m really excited about the other girls coming in with me and the rest of the team.”

Prins led her Broomfield H.S. team to three straight state championships and was a two-time first-team all-state pick.

Poppens, a 6-2 forward, played volleyball, basketball and ran track for tornado-ravaged Aplington-Parkersburg. She says rebounding and playing around the basket are her strong suits.

“I’m more of a post player. I’m not too much of shooter,” Poppens said.

Six-foot-one forward Amanda Zimmerman, a former teammate of ISU guard Alison Lacey at Ballard H.S. in Huxley, and 5-11 guard/forward Jessica Schroll from Midland, Mich., make up one of Fennelly’s most ballyhooed recruiting classes.

Add in Cole, a do-it-all kind of guard from Howard College in Big Spring, Texas, and it is an impressive class. Cole will be a sophomore.

“As we get more experienced the future will be exciting to see how it turns out,” Prins said. “But let’s get through this summer first.”

Prins has good basketball blood lines.

Her father, Adell, was a 7-footer at Colorado State. Prins admits she may not be completely prepared right now, but is confident she will.

“Sometimes when I think about it it’s hard to imagine myself out there in a college game,” Prins said. “The pace is quicker, it’s so much faster and more physical. I think I’ll be able to adapt pretty well… Sometimes it takes just being thrown out there and get that exposure to really learn how it is.”

The four incoming freshmen have been in Ames over the past week helping with ISU’s youth basketball camps.

Prins said last season’s success will help motivate the new and returning players. They want to experience a high like that again.

“I think it’s a really good momentum-builder going into this year,” she said. “I totally trust the coaching staff that they’ll get us where we need to be.”

How long before ISU women do this again?

Iowa State’s women’s basketball team advanced as far as it ever has in the NCAA Tournament, losing to Stanford in the Elite Eight earlier this week.

What are the chances they can do this again in the near future?

Hard to say right now.

If recruits see ISU as a destination and Coach Bill Fennelly continues to get the most out of his players, what’s to stop them?

The Cyclones’ style of offense is unique and can give opponents difficulty if it is not ready to guard the 3-pointer or be disciplined on the defensive end with all the sets ISU runs.

Improve athletically at some spots and this is a perrennial Sweet 16 team with hopes for more. 

That said, some pretty important players are leaving the program in guard Heather Ezell and post players Nicky Wieben and Amanda Nisleit.

You’d have never believed it four years ago when she came in — or now, really, with career scoring and rebounding averages of 4.9 and 3.4, respectively — but Nisleit may be the biggest loss.

The forward’s numbers got better every year and she was the only Cyclone named to the Berkeley Regional all-tournament team. She averaged 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in the four postseason games.

All this from an unathletic, 6-footer from Woodbury, Minn., who few expected much from.

“Next year we are all going to be looking around saying, ‘Where’s Nis?’” Coach Bill Fennelly said. “There’s not a kid who plays any harder. She’s 6-foot and can’t jump over the Gilbert phone book, but it’s all about effort.”

“With her and Heather (Ezell), you can’t measure heart or their soul or how much commitment they have to this school and this team.”

Guard Alison Lacey will be a senior next season and the unquestioned leader of the team. She’ll need some help carrying the scoring load with four of the team’s top seven scorers out of eligibility.

Ezell finished her career tied with Megan Taylor for the school’s all-time record for 3-pointer made (287). And Wieben could be counted on to average 10 to 12 points and 5 to 8 rebounds a game.

Some really talented freshmen are coming in — perhaps the most touted collection of recruits Fennelly has had in his 14 seasons.

Local kid — and former Lacey teammate at Ballard High School, in nearby Huxley — Amanda Zimmerman is one of three newcomers standing 6-foot-1 or taller.

The highest-rated of the bunch is 6-6 center Anna Prins from Broomfield, Colo., whose team won its third-straight Class 4A state championship and has a 106-4 record during her four seasons at the school.

Prins scored 15 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked seven shots and dished out two assists in the championship game. 

She has a chance to be an impact player in her first season.

Aplington-Parkersburg forward Chelsea Poppens and Midland, Mich., guard Jessica Schroll are the other two members of the incoming class. Poppens is 6-2, Schroll is 5-11.

Shooting guard Kelsey Bolte, a junior-to-be, will have to take her game up a level.

It would be nice if Denae Stuckey could be more of an offensive threat, but what she provides in energy, defense and hustle is awfully good for this group.

Forward Ashley Arlen and guard Whitney Williams flashed some promise in their freshmen seasons and are the heir apparents at their positions.

ISU’s starting five come November could look something like this: Lacey, Bolte, Williams, Prins, Arlen. With Stuckey, sophomore guard Alexis Yackley, and the freshmen coming off the bench.

Most importantly, the Cyclones have a floor general, someone who has the ball at crunch time and can create for herself and others at any time.

Stacy Frese, Lindsey Wilson, Anne O’Neil and Lyndsey Medders are some of the players Fennelly has had in the past.

Lacey is that person and has to be in her final season for the Cyclones to succeed.

The Cyclones’ hopes for another deep tournament run next season rest on her shoulders. It took 10 years for ISU to duplicate its Elite Eight run of the 1998-99 season.

With the taste fresh in their mouths, these players and recruits don’t want to wait another decade for it to happen again.