The ISU women’s basketball team has its eyes set on the Big Dance, and guard Mary Fox has some fancy footwork to perform if the Cyclones accomplish that feat.

Fox was an award-winning Irish dancer while growing up in Lakewood, Ohio. She became interested in it because of her Irish background.

“It was a big crave in Cleveland at that time, and why not try something else?” Fox said. “I had [a lot of things] going for me — basketball, volleyball, Girl Scouts — so why not Irish dancing?”

In major cities around the United States, Irish dance competitions, called feiseanna, are held. Fox said dancers compete against others in their age groups competing for first through third place. She has won many medals and trophies for finishing in the top three.

Fox said there are two different types of shoes used to perform. Soft shoes are used for more of a graceful dance and hard shoes, which are more like tap shoes, are also used. All of the dances are performed to music.

Fox began dancing in fourth grade, but stopped dancing competitively in eighth grade.

“You have to put out a lot of money to go to the next level, to go to Ireland and be like a professional or something, and basketball interfered with that,” Fox said.

In her senior basketball campaign at Iowa State, Fox is averaging 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. She said that Irish dancing helped her in many aspects related to basketball.

“Footwork is definitely a big thing,” Fox said. “Coordination, learning how to be light on my feet and quick. There’s a lot of quickness in Irish dancing, and it helped build some calf muscles.”

ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said Irish dancing has taught Fox other intangibles.

“I think the number one thing is it created discipline. It’s a very hard thing to do,” he said. “It’s a tremendous workout and the precision; it’s a combination of effort and footwork and it creates pride.”

Iowa State is 14-1, (4-0 in the Big 12) and riding high on an 11-game winning streak. Their record is the second-best start in school history and the streak is the second longest in the nation.

“[This season is] everything any senior could hope for, and it’s a dream,” Fox said.

“When I came in here as a freshman, we lost all those big guns and we were kind of rebuilding. I’m just happy I could be a part of it.”

Fennelly said that before the season began Fox’s name never came up as a starter, but she has started in all 15 of the Cyclones’ games thus far.

“[She] convinced me the very first day of practice,” Fennelly said.

“I told the staff Mary Fox was going to be starter. I’m so proud of her and the way she’s played.”

Fox is one of Iowa State’s five seniors on the team, and Fennelly said she’s become one of the unsung role players for the Cyclones.

“It’s going to be hard to lose her on the court, but it will be really hard for me personally to not have Mary around every day,” he said.

Fox and her teammates hope they have one more dance left together, the NCAA tournament, and Fennelly said at that point Fox can share her expertise.

“I’ve never really seen her do [Irish dance] a lot. We kind of joked after the season we’re going to have to see it,” Fennelly said.

After this season Fox said she has another year of classes left, but she plans on studying abroad in Ireland in the fall.

Fox said she still shows off her Irish dancing skills — albeit rarely.

“I do occasionally, if people ask me to, [but] it takes a lot of begging,” she said.