The ISU women’s basketball team will play its second and final exhibition game when it takes on Upper Iowa University at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Coliseum.

The Upper Iowa Peacocks are in their third season of Division II competition this year. Their coach, Ben Conrad, served as a coaching assistant under ISU head coach Bill Fennelly during the 2000-01 season. That year, the Cyclones won the Big 12 tournament and made a run in the NCAA tournament, reaching the Sweet 16.

Fennelly said for this exhibition game he is more focused on rotating players into the game and finding lineups that can score points and defend well together.

“We’re basically worried a lot more about us – it’s our last chance because we play for real on Wednesday,” Fennelly said. “It’s our last chance to experiment a little bit. What we’ve got to do is get enough [players] that we feel confident about on a given night can contribute and help us win games.”

Fennelly was able to use 12 players in the first exhibition game against St. Cloud State, which he said is a kind of depth the team has lacked in recent years. He thought transfer Toccara Ross and the freshmen did well in their first game.

“I really thought all of them did some good things, they didn’t seem real nervous, they seemed excited about playing, and that’s the challenge,” Fennelly said. “There’s no way when you’re new to the system and new to Division I basketball that you’re going to be able to be good every single night.”

Senior Lyndsey Medders said it was great for the team to have players able to come off the bench and contribute in their first exhibition game.

She added that it will give some of the starters a few more breathers throughout the course of a game and should keep the team healthy.

“It’s not just with guards, it’s also in the post, which is going to help everyone just being able to play a full season and hopefully prevent injuries,” Medders said.

Freshman Alison Lacey, who logged the most minutes for a freshman against St. Cloud State with 20, had four points and seven rebounds in her first game in a Cyclone uniform.

Medders, who was named one of the nation’s top-five point guards by ESPN.com, noticed Lacey’s energy and thought the freshman played well in her debut.

“I think Alison Lacey did a really good job,” Medders said. “She got a couple steals and got in the passing lanes.”

Fennelly also noticed Lacey being very active and said with the depth his team has at guard, he may try some four-guard situations against Upper Iowa.

One thing the team has addressed in practice is the 20 turnovers the team committed last weekend against St. Cloud State. Fennelly said mistakes are a part of the game, but he tells his team in practice the importance of limiting turnovers.

“The turnovers we’ve got to correct are the three-second calls, the illegal screens,” Fennelly said. “The ball-handling errors are going to happen because you’re trying to make plays, and we play a style where there are a lot of possessions. The ones that we’ve got to eliminate are the ones that are our fault.”

Redshirt freshman Rachel Pierson is expected to play after sitting out the team’s first game of the year while battling a virus.

“As far as I know, she’s playing,” Fennelly said.

“Barring something really strange, she’ll play Sunday.”