The ISU women’s basketball team, coming off an 18-13 season, will play its first exhibition game this Sunday against the St. Cloud State Huskies. The game is the first of two exhibition games the team will play before the regular season begins.

The Huskies, ranked fourth in this year’s preseason USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll, went 29-5 last year in the North Central Conference.

Senior Megan Ronhovde said she is excited to play and looks forward to starting her senior campaign this weekend.

“For right now we’re just excited to open up the season on Sunday,” Ronhovde said. “Our preseason schedule is one of the toughest we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Ronhovde averaged 9.5 points per game last season while grabbing 7.3 rebounds. With the loss of Brittany Wilkins from last year’s team, the Cyclones will need scoring help this season. Wilkins averaged 16.1 points per game.

Senior Lyndsey Medders, who led the nation in assists with 7.7 per game last year, said it will take a team effort to replace Wilkins’ presence as a post.

“I think everyone just needs to pick up their part,” Medders said. “It’s going to take [Heather] Ezell making a couple more shots, it’s going to take [Nicky] Wieben making a couple more shots inside. I think it will be a concerted, team effort of everyone being involved.”

Ronhovde agreed that it will take a collective effort to account for Wilkins’ missed scoring.

“It’s not a realistic statement to say that there’s going to be a post player that’s going to pick up 16 of those points,” Ronhovde said. “It’s probably going to take two, sometimes three players to make up for those 16 points that we’re going to be lacking in the post area. It’s going to have to be a team effort.”

Ronhovde said the freshmen have added some depth to the roster this year and are capable of helping put points on the board.

“They’ve added a lot of depth as far as our guards go. We have a lot more ball-handling to deal with, which was something that we definitely lacked last year,” Ronhovde said. “With the ball-handling comes shooting as well. We have Alison Lacey, Shellie Mosman and Anna Florzak who can all shoot the ball.”

The trio of freshman guards will all get to contribute right away, said coach Bill Fennelly. He said they have been adjusting to the college game in practice and should provide the team with some much-needed scoring.

“They’re all capable of scoring, and we need some scoring help,” he said. “They’re all going to get the opportunity to play.”

Forward Toccara Ross, a transfer student from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, is listed as a probable starter for Sunday’s exhibition. The 5-foot-11-inch junior led Kirkwood to a 30-4 record and the NJCAA Division II championship game last season.

Medders said Ross has been good in the post area in practice and should be a factor this season.

“She brings both athleticism and a toughness that we’ve also lacked down there,” Medders said.

Redshirt freshman Rachel Pierson will sit out Sunday because of an illness. Sophomores Heather Ezell and Nicky Wieben are expected to start along with Medders, Ronhovde and Ross. This will be the first meeting between the two teams. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.