On any given Friday night in their high school gymnasiums, Kandice Beenken, Abby Reinert and Lisa Kriener amazed the fans in their respective communities during their prep careers.

There weren’t a lot of fans — certainly never even approaching the thousands the trio routinely play before at Hilton Coliseum.

After all, the combined population of the Iowa towns of Titonka, Union and St. Ansgar is just over 2,000.

ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said the women have adjusted well to the level of play in the Big 12.

“They have handled everything we ask of them,” Fennelly said.

“Obviously, Lisa’s role is to be more important on the court on game night. Abby and Kandice have to make an adjustment to learning the other team’s offense and being on the scout team. All three of them have really brought a lot of energy.”

A whole lot different

Beenken earned a full academic scholarship as a freshman walk-on last season. As a sophomore, she has appeared in six games and is averaging 1.7 points per game. She saw four games last year and averaged 1 point an outing.

Beenken said it’s a thrill just to play basketball at Iowa State.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Beenken said.

“I’m having a great time here in front of a great team. Competition level is a lot higher, obviously, from [Iowa] Class 1A to Division I. Practicing, they do get a lot more intense. Conditioning is about the same.”

In her prep career, Beenken was named to the Iowa Newspaper Association all-state second team. In her senior year, she earned first-team all-North Star Conference honors by averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks per game for Woden-Crystal Lake-Titonka.

Reinert, who has appeared in only five games and is also a walk-on, has only scored two points this season. She agreed there is a difference between the crowds at Eldora-New Providence and Hilton Coliseum.

“We had pretty big crowds at my high school,” Reinert said. “But here, we have the best fan base in the state — pretty high up there in the Big 12 as well. It’s just unbelievable. They’re here for everything. It’s a great feeling.”

Reinert was part of a high school team that won three consecutive conference titles. In her four-year career, Eldora-New Providence compiled a 64-23 record. She scored 1,241 points in her career, which makes her No. 2 all-time for the Tigers. She has a school record 771 rebounds.

Reinert said there are some similarities between high school and college basketball.

“We come and we play hard,” Reinert said.

“We do fundamentals, and then we do what we need to do to prepare for the next team that we play against.”

‘I love St. Ansgar’

Kriener, who was recruited to Ames during her playing days at St. Ansgar, has started 17 games this season and is averaging 7.9 points per game.

She agreed with Beenken and Reinert about the differences between the levels of play.

“It’s a good different,” Kriener said. “I love St. Ansgar to death. I’m so glad that I came from that kind of a school. I just have a lot of respect for the people there and the way they are. The community is something that I’m very proud to be from.”

Kriener said it’s exciting to play in front of 8,000 fans at Hilton Coliseum.

“When the game starts and you’re out there playing, a lot of times everything is just kind of blurry,” Kriener said. “You don’t really see it. It’s not until you’re sitting on the bench and see everybody going crazy. When we make a basket, you just hear a roar, and they make a basket and it’s just dead silent. That’s just something awesome about Hilton.”

In her four-year career as a starter at St. Ansgar, the Saints complied an impressive 92-13 record and went to the state tournament in Des Moines all four years. In her senior year, Kriener and her teammates scored a runner-up finish in Class 2A. That season, Kriener averaged 18.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

Getting some support

Whether home is two hours away or 45 minutes from Ames, all three Cyclones said the support they receive from their communities has been a great thing to see and hear.

“I really don’t get a lot of calls or e-mails,” Beenken said. “[But] when I come home, everyone wants to know how I am. Few people have come down and watched the games. They’re always there for me. That’s kind of how the town is.”

Reinert said she’s been a Cyclone since Fennelly arrived nine seasons ago.

“I’ve come to games ever since Coach Fennelly has been here,” Reinert said. “Since there were 200 people in the crowd, I definitely have seen it evolve. I loved it. I have a lot of people that have season tickets from home that I know as well. I can look all over and find somebody I know.”

Kriener said she can always use tickets to get some people from St. Ansgar to come to watch.

“It’s two hours away from home and that’s awesome,” Kriener said. “My family is just awesome as far as being behind me 100 percent no matter what. There’s always people from St. Ansgar here as well, and that’s really awesome.”

A sense of community

Fennelly said all three athletes are positive people and good students.

“They’re the kind of kids that, basically, this university is going to build around,” Fennelly said. “You know, small town Iowa kids show up everyday, do their job. [They’re] good people and care about others.”

Fennelly, a Davenport native, said his players’ communities respect them a great deal.

“It’s like the whole town follows them,” Fennelly said. “It’s just not about their family. Their family is their community, and that’s where you see the whole group of people follow them. They grew up in an environment where Friday night everyone went to the game. That was the social thing to do, [head] down to the local joint, hang out and discuss the game.

“That’s what they grew up with. They know that’s important, they know they have a lot of support, and that’s kind of neat.”