Since the 2000-01 season, the ISU women’s basketball team has only lost 14 games in Hilton Coliseum, the same number of home losses as the Iowa State’s next opponent — the Oklahoma State Cowgirls — have this season alone.

After losing the last two games at Texas Tech and Nebraska by an average of 28 points, a return trip to Hilton Coliseum, where Iowa State (18-4, 8-3 Big 12) is a perfect 12-0 this season, can’t come soon enough for the No. 19 Cyclones.

“I’ve said many times that I don’t think there’s any home crowd that impacts the team more than our fans,” Fennelly said. “The thing that I like is that I’ve gotten 50 e-mails from people — ‘Hang in there; we can’t wait to get you home.'”

Sophomore Megan Ronhovde led the Cyclones in scoring with 12 points against Nebraska on Saturday in an 88-59 loss. She said Iowa State can’t afford to let the past week affect it down the line.

“You have deal with what happened in the past, but you can’t dwell on it at the same time,” Ronhovde said. “We can’t let these last two games carry on over to Wednesday, or Saturday [at Baylor] for that matter.”

Oklahoma State enters the game with a 7-14 record (2-9 Big 12) and no wins on the road. Senior guard Nina Stone paces the squad, averaging 15.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

The Cowgirls hold the height advantage, with two starters, Christian Hood and Eliz Gomes, standing at 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-4 inches tall, respectively.

“[Oklahoma State] plays teams close,” Fennelly said. “We’re in a stage now where, when you’ve lost your last two games the way that we’ve lost them, you don’t look past anybody.

“I think the challenge for us is to play with a great sense of urgency and great passion, and understand there are only five games to go and there’s a lot to play for.”

A conference title isn’t out of reach for the Cyclones, who are one game behind Baylor (19-3, 9-2). Iowa State is also fighting for a first-round bye in the Big 12 Tournament in March.

“We either keep winning and contend for that first-place spot, or we can slip anywhere from four to five,” Ronhovde said.

“For us, this is a very big game.”

The Cyclones travel to No. 7 Baylor on Saturday and Missouri on Feb. 23. Their final two games — against Texas A&M and Kansas — are at home.

“I think it helps having the crowd behind us, but at the same time we have to learn to contend a lot better on the road as well,” Ronhovde said.

“The road losses we have had, we haven’t been playing with the same type of urgency we have as we do at home, and that’s something down the line that we’re going to have if we want to be able to contend once tournament time comes around.”

If Iowa State continues to win at home, it will join Fennelly’s 1998-99 and 2000-01 squads as the only teams with undefeated seasons at Hilton.

“If we just win our home games, we’d win 22 games, and that’d be pretty dang good,” Fennelly said.