The post-Kelsey Bolte era is set to officially start Friday for the Cyclones. Iowa State kicks off the season against Houston Baptist.

Communication is going to be key for the Cyclones to start the season. Coach Bill Fennelly contracted throat cancer last month, leaving him with little use of his voice, and the Cyclones are going to be using hand signals to communicate.

“It’s a little difficult,” said junior guard/forward Jessica Schroll. “Especially with the communications were problem on the team. If one person sees it and doesn’t say anything, that’s not going to help anything.”

Through the Cyclones’ exhibition game victories against Coe College and Rockhurst, the communication problems have mainly come at the defensive end.

“We need to work on defense and communicating with each other,” said junior point guard Chassidy Cole. “We have a lot of screens being set and not a lot of people are taking, so we get mixed up. When that happens, we either get beat to the basket or have opposing players open.”

Senior shooting guard Lauren Mansfield and junior foward Chelsea Poppens were recently voted team captains for the upcoming season. Mansfield is making the switch from point guard to shooting guard with the departure of Bolte.

Mansfield averaged 8.8 points and 3.4 rebounds last season. Poppens and sophomore forward Hallie Christofferson showed their scoring prowess in the final exhibition victory against Rockhurst. Both poured in 17 points to lead all scorers.

Houston Baptist struggled last season, having just moved up to Division I play, going just 4-25 overall while winning one game in the Great West conference.

The Cougars lost a large amount of their scoring load from last season. Last year’s leading score, Destini Texada, returns after averaging 12 points per game, but the team loses Jamie Spriggs and Tia Jackson, who both averaged nearly nine points per game.

“We’ve been working on our zone defense a lot,” Schroll said. “We’ve worked on doubling in the post and doubling on the guard, so using that is going to be a definite possibility.”