The Cyclone women’s basketball team has returned to Ames for the summer to begin voluntary workouts for the upcoming 2011-2012 campaign.

With five new freshmen on the roster, sometimes a scrimmage can feel more like a meet-and-greet.

“We’re just trying to get to know each other and getting to know how everyone plays,” said senior guard Lauren Mansfield. “Everyone’s kind of getting a feel for each other, and we’re just really doing a lot of scrimmaging and pick-up games.”

As the Cyclones begin to form their squad, one of the lingering questions is who will help fill the void left by Kelsey Bolte’s graduation.

It appears at this point that it will be a committee of last season’s core returnees hoping to fill the All-American Bolte’s shoes.

“I feel like me and Chassidy Cole as seniors, that’s definitely our position to try to step up,” Mansfield said. “There is also a bunch of juniors, so I feel like we’re going to be OK. We just have to continue to work together.”

Offensively, Cyclone coach Bill Fennelly returns multiple key contributors from last season, but it is unclear who will be able to step up and shoulder the burden left by the loss of Bolte’s 16.9 points per game.

Junior Anna Prins and Sophomore Hallie Christofferson will be the top returning scorers, after scoring 9.9 and 9.3 points per game, respectively, during the 2009-2010 season.

“I think this is definitely going to be the year where all of us have a part in providing something to the team just with each of our individual skills,” said the 6-foot-7-inch Prins. “I think everyone has something to give to the team.”

In the Bill Fennelly era, 3-point shooting has been a staple of Cyclone women’s basketball, a trend that Lauren Mansfield does not expect will end any time soon.

“Shooting is my main focus right now,” Mansfield said. “We know that to win, we have to shoot well.”

With the departure of Colorado and Nebraska from the Big 12 conference, the Cyclones will now be playing each conference opponent twice each season.

The team knows this will be a tough task in a conference that boasts the defending national champion Texas A&M, along with another Final Four caliber team in Baylor.

“With the way the league is happening right now, it’s definitely going to be tough, and we know that, so we’ve just got to push ourselves,” Mansfield said. “We need to push each other and show the freshmen what it’s going to be like.”