Coming off its worst loss this season, Iowa State remains on the road for a showdown with the Cornhuskers in Lincoln on Saturday night.

“This is a huge, huge game for us. They’re going to be ready to go,” said senior guard Mary Fox. “They know they can beat us there because they beat us last year there. On the other hand, you know, the pressure is on them too.”

Both teams suffered disappointing losses in their last outings. Nebraska got stomped in Austin 93-63 on Wednesday, a day after Iowa State endured its own 89-62 thumping in Texas, at the hands of No. 13 Texas Tech.

The bull’s-eye remains on the Cyclones, though, as they are in a four-way tie for first place in the conference. The Huskers sit in the middle of the race, in sixth place. To make a serious run for the NCAA tournament, Nebraska needs more quality wins, and a victory over the No. 14 Cyclones would be just that.

The Devaney Center is a good place for Nebraska to do that. The Huskers are 11-1 at home, including a 103-99 victory over then-No. 2 Baylor in triple overtime. Driving the success is sophomore guard Kiera Hardy, who is averaging 19.3 points per game, second in the Big 12.

“I think you still have to start with Hardy, she shoots the ball so much,” Fennelly said. “The challenge is, do you spend too much time thinking about that when everybody else goes crazy?”

Hardy scored 17 points the first time the teams met, but it took her 16 shots to get there. Another Husker who played well in the first match was freshman Danielle Page, who scored 10.

“They’ve done a good job of playing a lot of different post players,” Fennelly said. “Page has really played well in the Big 12, and they kind of do it by committee.

“I think they’re not afraid to use some fouls, just throw big bodies at you.”

Lisa Kriener said those big bodies worry her. Kriener is coming off one of the best offensive nights of her career, where she was 6-for-6 against Texas Tech, including two 3-pointers.

“We are undersized, and maybe not quite as athletic as some other teams are,” Kriener said. “But we need to use other things to our advantage, and that’s working harder than them.”

The Cyclones need to work harder on the glass to avoid a two-game losing streak. In Lubbock, they were outrebounded for the sixth time this year, five of those coming away from Hilton Coliseum.

“I think the biggest thing is when we’ve struggled on the road, it’s because of rebounding,” Fennelly said.

“That’s the biggest thing, you can’t let those big guys, their big guys, outrebound us.”

Another thing hurting the Cyclones is the Fox’s slump.

In her last two games, she has only shot the ball five times from 3-point range, making just one. Compare that to the two games before where she shot 12 threes, making seven.

Fennelly said he is a little worried about Fox’s slump, more so because she is a senior than anything else.

“I think she’ll be fine. She’s kind of gone through that little slump that everyone goes through,” he said.

“You just hate to see a senior do it. Hopefully, she’ll snap out of it.”