When Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly looks at the most recent box score of the Cyclones’ next opponent, how many points its star player scores doesn’t necessarily catch his eye first.

What he looks for is the volume in which that player shot to get those points and how team defense can affect that.

“If they have to take a lot of shots to get them, they don’t get a rhythm look and we keep them off the free throw line, that’s all you can do,” Fennelly said. “Sometimes great players make great plays.”

Next up on the schedule for Iowa State is a second meeting with TCU, this time in Ames. The Cyclones (16-5, 5-5 Big 12) defeated the Horned Frogs (12-9, 3-6 Big 12) in Fort Worth, Texas on Jan. 2 by 22 points.

This time around, the Horned Frogs will have the services of guard Natalie Ventress, who did not play in the first meeting against Iowa State. In TCU’s most recent game — a 66-62 home loss to West Virginia — Ventress along with guard Zahna Medley scored 44 points combined on 13-of-34 shooting from the field.

With both of those players on the floor this time around, Fennelly knows TCU will be able to stretch the court a little more than it did in the first meeting.

“We were able to do some things and really focus on one player a little bit more in that game than we’re going to be able to [Wednesday] because of their personnel changes mainly,” Fennelly said.

The Horned Frogs predominantly play zone on defense, which is music to the ears of ISU guard Nicole “Kidd” Blaskowsky. Last time out against TCU, she came off the bench and poured in 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, including 7-of-15 from 3-point range.

It was obvious to Blaskowsky that playing against a zone is more fun as a shooter and provides a calming effect to her — especially when shots go down early — but it also provides a confidence and momentum. That leads to success on the defensive end, too.

“We got stops and then came down on the offensive side and made some shots,” Blaskowsky said. “It’s always good to hit shots and I think us hitting shots is going to make teams have to guard us more on the 3-point line and will open the inside for [senior forward] Hallie [Christofferson].

“Either way we’re going to do what we have to do.”

Although she didn’t start in Iowa State’s win against Kansas State on Feb. 1, Jadda Buckley’s confidence wasn’t shaken. The freshman guard tallied 14 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals in 36 minutes off the bench.

A reason for the success in Buckley’s eyes was the rediscovered chemistry she felt might have been lacking in Iowa State’s stretch of losses in January. Every ISU player on the floor knew where they had to be on offense and defense, which Buckley is hoping to see more of against TCU.

“They were longer and kind of spread out more so we’ve got to run our plays through, get open shots and knock them down like we did [Feb. 1],” Buckley said. “So I think it’s just ball movement and knowing who’s open and where everyone is at is going to be key.”

Iowa State is slated to take on TCU at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at Hilton Coliseum.