It’s been a crazy ride.

Picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 coaches’ preseason poll, the ISU women’s basketball team wasn’t expected to have a great season, especially given a difficult schedule.

Then freshman Rachel Pierson, who was supposed to be a big force in the middle, was injured.

The season rolled on.

Then junior Lyndsey Medders, Iowa State’s leading scorer, got injured.

The season rolled on.

It’s been a season that saw the Cyclones win six in a row at one point. They’ve also dropped as many as four in a row.

They’re guaranteed a finish above .500, meaning that in Bill Fennelly’s 11 years as coach, the team has only finished below .500 once.

Oh, what a ride.

“Overall, we’ve had a winning season, we won all of our in-state games and we’ve been competitive in almost every game this season,” Fennelly said. “I want to see how we finish. Not just how many games we win or lose, but how we play down the stretch.”

Fennelly’s ISU teams have reached postseason play beyond the Big 12 tournament eight times. The last time a team failed to make either the NIT or NCAA tournament was in 2003, when the team finished 12-16.

They bounced back to post an 18-15 record the following year, including winning three games in the WNIT tournament.

At this point, Iowa State would most likely have to run the table in the Big 12 tournament to make the NCAA tournament, but the WNIT isn’t out of the question.

Fennelly said no matter what happens, the team needs to evaluate how it finishes the season when it’s all said and done.

“Can we find a level of consistency in a win or a loss?” Fennelly asked. “The end of this season equals the start of next season because we have so many players back.”

Given the youth of the team -ÿthere are only two seniors – freshman Heather Ezell said the team should be happy with how it’s finished, but continue to strive for improvement.

“I don’t think people expected us to do this well, but I’m definitely happy with the games that we’ve won,” she said. “We’ve lost some we should have won, though.”

So what makes Fennelly happy as a coach?

“I’m never happy, probably, but I think right now, I would say they’ve done about what they could do,” he said. “There’s been things we didn’t do when I thought we had opportunities, but that didn’t happen.”

Regardless, the plan is to continue to build, leaving everything on the court this season, no matter how it turns out.

“Whatever the result is, we have to be able to say, ‘No regrets,'” said freshman Amanda Nisleit.

As before, Fennelly eluded back to the importance of finishing the season on a consistent basis, but the Cyclones said they want a little more.

“Hopefully we can have a good run in the Big 12,” Ezell said. “We’ll finish strong.”