ISU women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly finally saw the balanced scoring he had been looking for all season against 19th-ranked Vanderbilt on Sunday – with one negative.

“We had balance, but the numbers were very small and, obviously, we didn’t handle the half-court pressure defense very well,” Fennelly said. “Our initial concern was our lack of balance because we had three straight games where someone had exploded.”

In its first three games, Iowa State had junior Nicky Wieben score 24 points against Pepperdine, junior Heather Ezell score 32 points against Sacramento State and sophomore Alison Lacey score 35 points against Michigan – all career highs.

The Cyclones (3-1) did have five players score at least 6 points in the game with Vanderbilt, but only two of them were in double figures – Wieben with 15 and Ezell with 10.

Lacey said the team cannot expect someone to set a career high in every game.

“I think we’ve been lucky that, in every game, we’ve had someone step up and have a big game, but I definitely don’t think we can rely on that,” Lacey said. “I think it has to be a lot more balanced, and that’s definitely something Coach has talked about and we need to work on.”

The better news for Iowa State is that it has been able to get scoring from Wieben when Lacey and Ezell had their big nights and, when Wieben opened the season with a big game, sophomore Denae Stuckeychipped in 12.

Wieben said her team has the ability to be well balanced.

“We have proven that we don’t just have to depend on our inside play – we can shoot the three,” Wieben said. “We don’t have to just depend on the three – we can go inside, also.

“Hopefully, that can take us far this year.”

Team searches for winning streak

Last season, Iowa State dropped a game to Pepperdine in a fashion similar to the game it lost to Vanderbilt on Sunday.

After the loss last season, however, the Cyclones won 10 straight games, including a Big 12 opening win over Kansas and a victory against Iowa.

Lacey said she thinks the loss will make the team better and hopes they can get another winning streak going.

“Anything is possible,” Lacey said. “I definitely think this loss is going to make us a little more hungry.

“No one likes to lose, and we’re going to come back wanting to win even more.”

The Cyclones are coming into one of the tougher stretches of their schedule, however. The next 10 games include all three in-state opponents – Iowa, Drake and Northern Iowa – a trip to Minnesota and a home game against No. 9 Oklahoma.

Fennelly said that with an upcoming schedule like that it will be very tough to equal last season’s winning streak.

“I’m not saying this facetiously, but I don’t think that’s possible with our schedule,” Fennelly said. “We’re still searching for leaders, and last year Lyndsey Medders and Megan Ronhovde were the consummate leaders and they knew how to handle success.

“This is the first time we are going to [play] after a losing a game, so that will be the next thing – how we handle that and does everyone take responsibility.”

Wieben said the Cyclones just want to get back on track with a win against Montana State on Friday.

“We just really want to come out ready to play; in the loss to Vanderbilt, I just don’t think we really came out ready to play,” Wieben said. “Hopefully, we can just get rolling again and start playing the game like we know how to.”

Cyclones still trying to find right combination

Early in the season, many teams change around their rotations until they find the one that makes their team click.

Fennelly said he is still trying to do that with the Cyclones.

“We have players that have spiked in certain areas,” Fennelly said. “We’re still searching for who’s going to play and who’s going to start.”

The Cyclones have created two different starting lineups, and some players have seen their minutes fluctuate throughout the season.

Fennelly said one of the reasons for this is that he would like to find some more offense.

“We have to find some more points, and that’s critical,” Fennelly said. “I think we have enough people that can defend.”

“After Nicky, Aus [Lacey] and Heather, it’s pretty wide open from here on out to see what we get,” Fennelly said.

Ross questionable for Friday

Senior forward Toccara Ross, who had battled a bad back in the preseason, now has a calf injury and it is questionable whether she will play Friday.

Lacey said the team really wants Ross to be out there playing since this is her senior year.

“We feel so bad for her when she’s injured time after time, but she’s still the leader,” Lacey said. “She’s still there, just not on the court. As long as we can have her, we’ll take her whenever.”

Fennelly said he is not sure how the injury occurred but, Ross woke up Saturday and was very sore.

“It is nothing major,” Fennelly said. “She played [Sunday], so that was encouraging.”