After two lopsided victories in the only two exhibition games of the year, the ISU women’s basketball team will begin the regular season as it plays host to Western Illinois the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 11.

Western Illinois has two lopsided wins of its own, having defeated Monmouth, 87-51, and MacMurray, 79-13. Western Illinois led MacMurray 41-3 at the half and will provide a challenge for the Cyclone defense.

Iowa State struggled in the first half of its win against William Penn but sharpened up in the second. The Cyclones experimented with a zone defense, which is something ISU coach Bill Fennelly said will be useful against the Leathernecks, who have been known to shoot 3s.

“We’re going to see a lot of people that spread the court and so our big guys are going to have to guard in space,” Fennelly said. “They’re going to have to go out on the court and guard and not just bang block to block like you do in the Big 12.”

Guard Fallon Ellis, who recorded a double-double against William Penn with 20 points and 12 rebounds, believes that even though the defense played better in the second half, that will probably be the biggest focus of the team during the next few days.

“I think the biggest thing that we need to work on is our defense and knowing where our man is at all times,” Ellis said. “Seeing ball and seeing man.”

The Cyclones will once again be without sophomore guard Nikki Moody, who missed the last game due to a viral illness.

Fennelly said he feels worse about going into the season because of the uncertainty surrounding Moody — when she will return and what personnel will be available. However, Fennelly was encouraged by what he saw against William Penn.

“I feel better in the sense of we saw some kids do some good things,” Fennelly said. “We got something out of Fallon, we got something out of [Nicole] Kidd [Blaskowsky]. Overall, Emiah [Bingley] was pretty solid in the first time [starting]. Overall, I think [I was] encouraged, but I would feel much better if we knew exactly what we were going to do moving forward.”

Junior forward Hallie Christofferson believes while the team was different without Moody at point guard, Bingley stepped in and provided good minutes throughout the game.

Christofferson had 17 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes in the win against William Penn.

“Coming in with a different point guard, that was really different for us, but I think we played through it,” Christofferson said. “I think coming within the next game, we’re just going to have to come together as a team and try to limit those turnovers and take care of the ball better because it just gets harder from here.”

Tipoff for the game between Iowa State and Western Illinois will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Coliseum.