During Saturday’s game against Missouri (11-13, Big 12 1-10), Iowa State (19-5, Big 12 7-4) will honor the 10th anniversary of what many consider one of the best teams the Cyclones have ever had: the 1999-2000 women’s basketball team.

“Besides the fact they were immensely talented of course, it was the most cohesive group of people I’ve ever been around,” coach Bill Fennelly said. “They were amazingly good friends; they still are. They had an amazing ability to know exactly what the other person needed. And they fed off of each other off the court just like they did on the court.”

It may have been 10 years ago, but that team’s success still acts as a reminder of what is expected of the current Cyclones team.

That team went 27-6, made a Sweet 16 appearance and featured four All-Conference players, including Stacy Frese, Angie Welle, Megan Taylor and Desiree Francis. Three of those players — Frese, Welle and Francis — were also included in the Conference All-Tournament Team.

Like the 1999-2000 team, the current Cyclones have an established leader on and off the court. Senior guard Alison Lacey has embraced the role of leader like Frese did 10 years ago.

However, the Cyclones are not sure they will take the court with their captain Saturday. Lacey suffered a concussion during Tuesday’s practice and was held out of the Nebraska game. Because of the uncertainty regarding Lacey’s status, the team will have to make adjustments to its game plan.

“We will prepare for her not to play,” Fennelly said. “She’s being evaluated consistently and constantly, almost on a daily basis. She won’t practice [Thursday] and we’ll see how she feels [Friday] to see if we can throw her out there for a little bit.”

Without Lacey, the team struggled during Wednesday’s game against Nebraska. But with added time to get used to the possibility of playing without her, the Cyclones feel confident they will play better against Missouri.

“There was no excuse for us to not be ready [against Nebraska],” sophomore guard Whitney Williams said. “But it will help to have a few days just to kind of get used to what we’re going to have to do against Missouri. These two days will definitely help.”

Senior guard Denae Stuckey handled most of the point guard duties Wednesday and will more than likely be asked to do so again if Lacey is still not ready to play.

“It was a little different for me because I hadn’t played [point guard] inawhile,” Stuckey said. “I’m usually a wing, but I know I have to step up if Lacey can’t play.”

Missouri enters Saturday’s game with 1-10 record in the Big 12. Just by looking at the record, some may assume the Cyclones will not even need Lacey. However, the Tigers have lost to Nebraska by four and Oklahoma by one, and collected their only conference win by upsetting Baylor.

Despite some close games for the Tigers, the Cyclones were able to keep the Big 12’s second worst scoring offense to just 39 points on 13-54 shooting. Iowa State would like to repeat that success defensively Saturday.

“We can’t overlook anything,” Williams said. “Just because we won last time doesn’t mean anything this time. We just have to stay focused on our game plan and try to repeat what we did against them last time.”  

Saturday’s game will begin at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.