Life is full of decisions, and sometimes it takes people a couple tries to find the right fit. For Anne O’Neil, this is especially true.

O’Neil started her basketball career at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, where she quickly became one of the top basketball players in the state, averaging more than 25 points per game in all four years playing for the Cougars. When it came time to decide where to go for her college career, there were coaches lined up at her doorway.

“She was obviously a great high school player, maybe one of the best high school players ever in our state,” said ISU women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly. “We were disappointed, but I wouldn’t say surprised. Obviously we knew it would be a tough recruiting battle, one that we lost.”

O’Neil decided on the University of Illinois for college basketball and started there in 2000. She showed glimpses of what was to come, averaging 11 points per game and starting all but two games, but never really found a comfort zone.

“There came a point in time, coming out of high school that I was looking for a good fit, and I thought [Illinois] was the right decision at the time,” O’Neil said.

“It didn’t work out in the long run, but it was definitely a place that I needed to go.

“I learned a lot of life experiences there.”

Illinois didn’t use the same kind of offense that O’Neil flourished in at Kennedy High. She shot a lot of 3-pointers in high school, something that wasn’t in Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz’s game plan.

So she packed her bags with only one destination on her mind.

“I knew that I was going to transfer, and Iowa State was my No. 1 option,” O’Neil said. “I really didn’t have any after that. I really wanted to come here and play for coach Fennelly and be in front of all these fans at Hilton Coliseum.”

Fennelly welcomed her back with open arms, grateful to have the chance to land the one that got away.

“When a kid leaves, you never think they’re coming back. You wish them well,” Fennelly said. “It just worked out for us that she made a decision to make a change, and she came here.”

In 2002-03, O’Neil’s first year with the Cyclones, Fennelly suffered his first losing season in 15 years as a head coach. O’Neil was a bright spot that year, though, averaging 10 points per game. Her junior year things got better, and the Cyclones got back into postseason play in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Iowa State battled to the final four before bowing out to UNLV.

At that point, O’Neil wasn’t happy with the way she had been scoring. She said that she was having to step out farther from the 3-point line to get her shot off and that she had almost no mechanics or technique.

“My first three seasons, I just didn’t think my shot was very athletic,” she said. “I wasn’t able to get it off in a short amount of time, and it just seemed like it was just taking too long to get off.”

She completely changed her shot, converting her free throw form to a jumper that she could use anywhere on the court.

“She was a good 3-point shooter in high school, and then she went to Illinois, and that was not part of either their system or her game,” Fennelly said. “She made that decision in the offseason, she told me that she was going to [change her shot]. And I think it speaks volumes about a senior willing to make that kind of effort, commitment to change her game.”

The change has been almost night and day. O’Neil is shooting 51.9 percent from behind the arc, good for first in the Big 12.

The future is wide-open to the brainy senior, who will graduate in May and carries a 3.86 grade point average. She said athletics is where she wants to be, but playing basketball is an option she hasn’t really explored.

“Anne is going to be successful whatever she does. I think part of the problem is that she has too many options,” Fennelly said. “She is just one of those kids that whatever she gets into, she is going full bore.”