After digging into the wounds of Texas A&M in Saturday’s 66-58 win, the ISU women’s basketball team will need to carry its momentum into Wednesday’s home contest against No. 12 Kansas State.

The Aggies were hurting after a 65-56 loss to seventh-ranked Texas Tech, and the Cyclone defeat put them at 7-12 on the season and a dismal 0-8 in the Big 12.

Facing the high-powered Wildcats won’t be an easy task.

“There are very few teams as talented as Kansas State,” said ISU head coach Bill Fennelly. “They’re going to score and they’re going to make shots. You can’t panic when they do that — they have a lot of weapons.”

Three Kansas State players are in the top 10 of Big 12 scoring leaders: Kendra Wecker, Laurie Koehn and Nicole Ohlde. Ohlde was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week this week.

“The potency of their offense even makes their defense better because you feel you have to score,” Fennelly said. “Their defense is a lot better than people give them credit for.”

Kansas State head coach Deb Patterson said the Wildcats are not yet at the level she wants.

“Even though we might be ranked high in statistical categories, I’m not quite sure we are where we want to be yet,” Patterson said. “We want that 40-minute sustained quality and intensity.”

Kansas State is the fourth straight ranked opponent to visit Hilton Coliseum and is 15-3 overall and 6-1 in Big 12 play.

Patterson said Hilton Coliseum is a “hostile environment that has great crowds” and that experience from older players will be a factor.

“It requires a mental adjustment from the individual players and some of the traditional game plans that you might bring to the floor,” Patterson said. “I think that’s what makes Iowa State the successful program that it is — the fact that they are unique and distinct in the manner they play and how well Fennelly recruits in the system.”

A key ingredient for Iowa State’s success is consistency on the offensive end with balanced scoring, Fennelly said.

“We’re not a team with a star player,” said Fennelly. “So we need consistency and to be successful, and to play in this league we need balance.”

Junior guard Anne O’Neil, who collected 20 points in Saturday’s win, said the team is excited to play at home and is aware of Kansas State’s talent.

“It’s nice because we have to play them first here at Hilton in front of the fans. We can use the extra energy and enthusiasm that Hilton brings,” O’Neil said. “They’re a fantastic team that has so many weapons on their team that we’re trying to contain. We need to rebound the ball better.”

Last season, the teams split games in conference play. Despite a 14-point effort from O’Neil in their first meeting, the Cyclones dropped a 68-60 decision on the road.

But the Cyclones responded in their second meeting as Iowa State used the home crowd and former Cyclone Lindsey Wilson’s game-high 27 points to its advantage. Iowa State beat the third-ranked Wildcats 74-69.

The Wildcats lead the overall series 37-19.