All the regulars are there. Angie Welle is averaging a double-double this year. Megan Taylor is doing what she does so well … everything. Tracy Gahan has stepped up to average double figures in scoring and more than seven boards per game. Erica Haugen is playing her role on the team, doing all the “little things” that make Iowa State so good.But where would this team be without the underclassmen?”She’s the little engine that makes it go,” KSU head coach Deb Patterson said of ISU’s sophomore point guard Lindsey Wilson.The Cyclones have two “little engines” in Wilson and redshirt freshman Erica Junod.Wilson, from Seattle, Wash., has taken over at point while Junod, an Ankeny native, provides great support from the bench in the form of 21.1 minutes per game.”I think everything last year just prepared me for this year,” Wilson said. “I mean, I had a year to learn from Stacy [Frese]. It wasn’t like a big adjustment, it’s just I’m playing a lot more.”Wilson is doing more than playing a lot more. She’s averaging just under 15 points a contest, 5.7 assists per game, has 25 steals on the year and is shooting .495 from the floor. Wilson adds a 43 percentage from the three-point arc to make her a threat anywhere on the floor.”That’s fun to have more responsibility and pressure,” Wilson said.Junod is stepping nicely into her role. When she isn’t the back-up for Wilson, she plays along side her giving the Cyclones what Wilson’s roommate and teammate Holly Bordewyk calls “a nice one-two punch.”Junod averages 6.2 points per game and is shooting 59-112 from the floor (54 percent). She nails three-pointers at an alarming rate, 32 of 60 to be exact, good for 53 percent.But Junod’s ability to rebound is one of her finest qualities. She averages 3.1 per game, but can seemingly rebound whenever she wants.Against Kansas State this year, Junod grabbed 12 boards.”I think sometimes I just get lucky bounces off the rim,” Junod said. “I kind of just run in there like a chicken with its head cut off. I really don’t know why I get some of the rebounds.”Many wondered how the Cyclones would do without All-American Stacy Frese on the team. Not many thought they would be better in the long run, but with Wilson at the point and Junod soon to be a starter, they just might be.Even though Iowa State lost more Big 12 games this year going 12-4, as opposed to 13-3 last season, Wilson’s drive to win is as high as anyone’s in the nation and Iowa State may end up further in the NCAA’s than last year.”I can’t handle losing,” Wilson said, “it’s not something I can deal with. People always try and tell me stuff about it’s only one game, it happens you know, whatever positive stuff they want to tell me, but it doesn’t work for me.”Wilson said she was still mad about the Cyclones’ 68-60 loss to Texas Tech and that the team had to wait a week to play again.She said that part of her competitive spirit came from having two older brothers, Martin and Jordan. She added that her dad and grandmother had a lot to do with it.”That side of my family is super, super competitive,” Wilson said. “We take board games seriously. We play Password with the best of them.”Junod has her own fire, sparked when she was younger by losing to her older sister Michelle.”I played a lot against her, and I absolutely hated to lose against her,” Junod said. “I’d give her the silent treatment and argue with her the rest of the night if I lost.”With Iowa State set to make a run at another Big 12 Tournament title, two of the teams that beat Iowa State could stand in the way. Barring an upset, Baylor would be the Cyclones’ first opponent. And if Iowa State wins, Texas Tech could be on the schedule next.”I think everybody was hoping we’d get Baylor,” Wilson said, “and now Texas Tech also.”She said that it was disappointing to not defend the Big 12 regular season crown, but said the conference tournament is most important.”Being in the top three in the Big 12 is a good accomplishment in itself,” Wilson said. “We’re the second-best conference in the nation.”Yet the Big 12, in its fifth year of existence, has yet to send a women’s team to the Final Four. This year in St. Louis, Wilson and Junod hope to lead a cardinal and gold march to the arch.”That’s everybody’s goal, no matter what team you play for,” Junod said. “With us there’s something special, we all know how to get there. It’s just a matter of putting it together and getting there.”