The recruiting season is in full swing for many Cyclone teams and coaches, and the ISU women’s basketball team is adding much-needed depth during the offseason.

After a season which was a drastic improvement from the 2002-2003 effort, head coach Bill Fennelly and the ISU women’s basketball team are starting to rebuild.

With the departure of Erica Junod, the team’s only senior, Fennelly and his staff didn’t have many holes to fill in the lineup. So far, Fennelly has signed three players to join the 2004-2005 squad.

“We’re not in dire need of help,” Fennelly said. “The core of our team returns and the experience should benefit us greatly.”

Fennelly said, however, that members of the incoming class could see playing time immediately.

“We’re always surprised,” he said. “Each year we have contributors and people who surprise us. The best players will play. It’s always been that way.”

On paper, it appears Fennelly’s biggest recruit and most immediate impact player will be Seirra Dawson. Dawson, a 5-foot-10 wing from Tupelo, Miss., signed her letter of intent in early May and will add depth to an already guard-dominated team.

“We’re excited to have her here,” he said. “We’re going to try to play her at the two or the three [position]. She gives us depth at the perimeter and can shoot from anywhere on the floor.”

Fennelly said Dawson’s greatest attribute might be her flexibility in all aspects of the game.

“She definitely gives us depth because she can play multiple positions,” he said. “She can take [the ball] off the dribble or she can pull up and shoot.”

Dawson averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and five steals during a senior year that featured a game in which she scored 51 points in three quarters of play. Also in the recruiting class are Lisa Bildeaux and Tegan Stuart. Adding depth behind Brittany Wilkins, Lisa Kriener and Katie Robinette, Bildeaux’s 6-foot-3 frame should help the Cyclones fill the paint.

Stuart, a 5-foot-6 guard, will most likely spend a year learning from Cyclone veterans Anne O’Neil, Mary Fox and Lyndsey Medders before seeing action.