Youth and inexperience often go hand-in-hand, but the ISU women’s basketball team isn’t about to start using that as an excuse when it takes the court Sunday against the Concordia (Minnesota) Golden Bears, a Division II program.

The Bears finished last year ranked No. 20, including an appearance in the Division II NCAA Tournament.

For now, though, the Cyclones are focusing on what they need to do to start the season out on a good note.

“[Concordia] has some good individual players that we’re aware of statistically,” said coach Bill Fennelly. “Right now, because we don’t know a lot about them and because it is the first exhibition game, it’s one of the few times that we really focus a lot more on Iowa State.”

Fennelly said the staff will be focusing on seeing how well the Cyclones are conditioned, combinations of players on the court, their knowledge of the game and how much they embrace the opportunity to play.

“We need to play, we need to play against another team so that we have a game evaluation,” he said.

“When you practice, kids don’t understand the evaluation sometimes. We’re excited about playing.”

With five newcomers this season, juniors Meghan Ronhovde and Lyndsey Medders are being looked to as the foundation of the team, especially in the inaugural game of the 2005-06 season.

Ronhovde said in three weeks of practice, she has noticed a change in her role from last season.

“The leadership role is definitely something that I’ve had to take under my belt,” she said. “Lyndsey and I are the only returning players that have a significant amount of minutes, all the younger ones are kind of looking at us to try and follow our lead.”

Freshman Heather Ezell, who was expected to start for the Cyclones until suffering from a staph infection during the offseason, is back practicing with the team.

“Obviously, when you miss a month like she missed, it takes time,” Fennelly said. “Now it’s just day-to-day, getting her back in shape.”

Most of the Cyclones will see time on the court while the coaching staff tries to figure out what players fill what role in the best way. Fennelly did say, though, freshman Nicky Wieben has really played hard in practice.

“She’s played hard every day,” he said. “We knew that she had a chance to be a really good player, but she’s come a lot further along than I thought she’d be.”

Even with question marks circulating combinations, the team is ready to go against real competition, as opposed to the scout team it has been playing in practice.

“We want to show the coaches, show the fans and more importantly, show ourselves that we’re ready to start playing against some competition,” Medders said.

The team won’t only be challenged by the inexperience of youth Sunday, as several rule changes have been implemented for exhibition play. The 3-point line has been moved back and the women have just 10 seconds to cross half-court with the ball.

“We may have to pay some more attention than normal, but it shouldn’t be too much of a change,” Medders said.

Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.