In every sport, there is one position on the playing surface that is in charge of making every other part run smoothly. In football, it’s the quarterback; in baseball, the pitcher is the focal point.

For coach Bill Fennelly and his squad, that position is the point guard. Juniors Lauren Mansfield and Chassidy Cole are Fennelly’s extension out on the floor. Mansfield, an Adelaide, Australia native, won the starting job at the beginning of the season upon transferring from Midland College in Midland, Texas.

Fennelly has stressed many times that the point guard is the most important position on the floor in his offense. It was also the biggest question mark coming into the season.

Mansfield has responded by averaging nine points and six assists per game.

“We definitely have the ball in our hands a lot of the time,” Mansfield said. “We make a lot of the decisions and have to run the team; call the plays. It’s a big role.” 

For Mansfield, the position was even more important to the offense than she had anticipated coming in. However, it didn’t take her long to adjust. She started the season with nine, eight and six assist performances.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Mansfield said. “By the time we had our games, I had adjusted to it, so I was OK with it.”

As for Cole, she serves as Mansfield’s backup, but there is no denying that she has made a big impact with the team. While Cole’s two points and two assists per game — she usually plays around 20 minutes each contest — don’t jump out at you, she has found her role on the team.

Fennelly has found that they impact the game in different ways.

“Lauren is more offensive minded, and Chas[sidy] is more defensive minded,” Fennelly said. “They both are learning the kinds of things our team needs from them to have success.”

“When they’ve not turned the ball over, our offense has been pretty efficient. Good guard play is critical in this league and when they play well, we seem to play well also.”

While Cole’s meal ticket may be her defensive play and consistency, she has shown she can impact the game in other ways as well. Some of her highlights include a career best seven assists in a 71-56 victory over Missouri and a six assist performance against Nebraska.

In the Cyclones’ win over North Dakota State, she pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.

“She’s another ball handler and she’s our best perimeter defender,” Fennelly said the day after Iowa State beat Kansas State 61-53. “Her role on this team is defense, rebounding, ball handling and facilitating our offense. Her play over the past month has really given us some versatility on the perimeter, which we didn’t have earlier.”

Fennelly also has used Mansfield and Cole on the floor at the same time When he does so, there isn’t much change to how the offense is run.

Having both on the floor at the same time is becoming a more common occurrence. In the Cyclones’ victory over Kansas State, both Cole and Mansfield started in a three-guard lineup.

“We try and mix and match depending on where the matchup is defensively,” Fennelly said. “They can both play point guard and they can both run our plays, so we really don’t change much once they’re in the game together.”

When Mansfield and Cole are out there together, it also helps with the play calling and running the offense. They will help each other read the defense and decide which play is the best to run. That sometimes means that Cole will be the one calling out the plays even though Mansfield is on the floor.

Mansfield also does a good job of catering to her backup’s strengths.

“Given that I’m not much of a scorer, she’ll set up different plays that we can run where I’m mainly a screener and can get someone else open to shoot the ball,” Cole said.

Having two people who can run the offense works well for both the coaches and players because if one were to get into foul trouble, the other can step in without missing a beat. 

While Mansfield still averages 12 more minutes a game than Cole, Cole has seen her minutes increase as the season progressed.

“I feel like [with] both [of] us being interchangeable at the point guard position, we know what to expect from each other,” Cole said. “As opposed to another guard coming in and not really being at the point guard position; not knowing what to do or what to expect.”

Senior shooting guard Kelsey Bolte has been the focal point of all the opposing teams’ defenses. As the team’s leading scorer she acknowledges that it is helpful having two people that can come in and handle the ball and run the offense.

“I love having two point guards that can handle the ball at the same time,” Bolte said. “It gives us all another option out there. You have two great court scanners and its great to have two people on the court at the same time that can see the court as well as they can.”