Parity is a new phenomena for Big 12 women’s basketball. And so is late season competition for the title.

But the conference is seeing both of those in spades as the regular season winds down. With three games to play, four teams are tied for first place with records of 10-3.

Iowa State, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Tech all have a chance to win the title, and an interesting finish to the season is assured.

“Any of the four teams can win it, and any of the teams can wind up being fifth. Obviously the game everyone is looking at is Kansas at Oklahoma, but there are a lot of games left where anything can happen,” Fennelly said.

All four teams have at least one more difficult game left to play.

The Cyclones will be heavy favorites in contests against Texas A&M tonight in College Station and once again at home Saturday night against Baylor.

However, they must close the season at Texas, perennially a very difficult place to win.

Kansas, the only team that Iowa State would lose a tiebreaker to, finishes with games at Missouri and Oklahoma, before coming home to face Texas A&M.

After defeating Kansas State Tuesday night, Oklahoma will take on Kansas and Oklahoma State in Norman to conclude the campaign.

Finally, Texas Tech will have to travel to Texas and Oklahoma State before hosting Baylor in the season’s final game.

“Teams right now in this league are getting a lot better. The talent has become really spread out, and I think this race proves it. It’s going to be a wild finish,” Fennelly said.

“I think it says so much about the Big 12, that it’s the top conference in the nation. We’re glad to be in the race, especially after we slipped up this past week,” Cyclone guard Lindsey Wilson said.

The Cyclones (19-5,10-3) will go into Reed Arena with a lot of momentum after destroying Missouri 101-66 Saturday night in Ames. In that contest, the Cyclones hit a school-record 18 of 29 three-pointers.

The game was critical for Iowa State, which was coming off two straight demoralizing losses at Kansas State and at home to Kansas.

“I think we really needed something good to happen. It was a game where everybody played well, and that hasn’t happened in a while. That first half we played so well. We were obviously on fire, but we guarded really well too. It was important for a lot of reasons,” Fennelly said.

Meanwhile, the Aggies are struggling through another losing season. While they are 11-12 overall, they have lost 10 of 13 games in conference. At home, A&M is just 2-5 in Big 12 action, with their wins coming against Baylor and Missouri.

Their lone win on the road came in Waco against Baylor.

However, Fennelly says that the Aggies can still cause problems.

“They are an extremely fast team. I think if you lined up all the Big 12 teams in a relay race, that they would win. They’ve got a lot of talented players. We can’t take this team lightly,” Fennelly said.

A&M is led by junior college transfer Jaynetta Saunders. The 5-foot-11 forward is averaging 15.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Also in double figures are forwards Prissy Sharpe (13.0 points, 8.7 rebounds per game) and Kara Alexander (11.2 points, 7.0 rebounds).

Fennelly knows the front court for the Aggies is a formidable one.

“Saunders is, along with Amanda Lassiter of Missouri, probably the top candidate for Newcomer of the Year in this conference. She brings a lot to their team. And Prissy Sharpe always seems to play really well against us. I would say where they’ve had their troubles this year is in their shooting,” Fennelly said.

Following the poor shooting performances against Kansas State and Kansas, there was talk of the team being handicapped by tired legs. Frese, in particular, said that she wasn’t feeling 100 percent.

However, Fennelly says that the coaching staff is doing everything it can in order to keep the team fresh.

“This team has had more off-days than any that I can remember. At this time of the year, everyone’s tired, so we try and cut practices a little shorter, and give them more time off,” Fennelly said. “Hopefully they’ll be ready come tournament time.”