Bill Fennelly and the ISU women’s basketball team need no reminders of their last game against Iowa.

Iowa won last year’s meeting in Iowa City 64-39 as the Hawkeyes controlled just about every single category.

Iowa outrebounded the Cyclones 44-32. Iowa State made only six shots in the second half and finished 3-of-18 from the free-throw line. Iowa shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half and outscored Iowa State 34-14 in the second half.

“We missed shots and it wouldn’t have mattered if Iowa was on the court playing defense or not,” Fennelly said. “We were going to miss them. It took us six or seven minutes in the second half to make a basket.

“They got after us pretty good and I think enjoyed every minute, but that’s part of it. It was a tough, tough game for us in a lot of ways.”

This season, junior Lisa Kriener said, the goal is pretty simple.

“We want to be state champs,” she said.

Kriener and the Cyclones open their home schedule at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.

“There’s going to be a lot [of emotion], after playing at their place last year and the outcome didn’t come out like we wanted it to,” Kriener said.

Fennelly said Wednesday’s game, like any rivalry matchup, will be big for both teams.

“It’s great for the coaches and players,” Fennelly said.

“The game brings a lot of attention for fans that enjoy rivalries. [Wednesday] is a great start for our home schedule for our fans. I’m expecting a very close and very good game.”

Iowa has a 19-14 advantage in the series. Iowa snapped a five-game losing streak to the Cyclones last year.

Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said the Cyclones have improved a lot since last season.

“They’re a better team than they were last year. They’ve got well-balanced scorers. Lyndsey Medders is a very nice player and Anne O’Neil is a veteran-type player,” Bluder said.

“Both of us are going to play our best and hopefully we play as well as we did last year. It’s important for us to control the boards, and we need the 3-pointers to fall against Iowa State.”

Iowa brings a 3-1 record into the contest. The Hawkeyes are coming off a 93-86 win over Florida International at the Florida International Thanksgiving Classic. Iowa State improved to 2-1 on the season Saturday by defeating Indiana 75-59 in the consolation game of the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Freshman guard Lyndsey Medders leads the team in scoring with 15 points per game. Kriener is averaging 8.4 rebounds per game.

Medders said she is looking forward to her first Iowa State-Iowa game.

“It’s the biggest rivalry for us and the significance is important,” Medders said. “We need to play our style of basketball. We’re going to need to have greater intensity than them and get fired up.”

Fennelly said his team needs to improve in several areas to top Iowa.

“Iowa can score a lot of points. We need to keep them from having free baskets. We need to have them work really hard to earn their points,” Fennelly said. “We’ve been inconsistent on offense.”

— Daily staff writer Amanda Ouverson contributed to this story.