Coming off its biggest road trip of the season, the ISU women’s basketball team is looking for a little home cookin’ over the next couple of weeks.

After losing a tough game to Kansas and beating Nebraska by one point Wednesday night, the Cyclones are now in store for a stretch which will see them reside in Hilton Coliseum for four of the next five games.

However, the games will be not be a pushover. Iowa State opens the stretch with perhaps the easiest game of the five, Colorado.

Cyclone coach Bill Fennelly cautions that the Buffaloes are not nearly as bad as their 6-13 record would seem to indicate.

“They took Oklahoma down to the wire and almost beat them. They’ve got a lot of talent. That program has pounded Iowa State for so long, and so it’s going to be a challenge,” Fennelly said.

He is not worried about a letdown from his team.

“I think that especially after the Kansas State game, this team is too smart for that. I think we’re going to be ready to play,” Fennelly said.

Sophomore center Angie Welle also is not concerned about the way Iowa State will approach the game.

“It seems like we haven’t been home in such a long time, I think everybody will be fired up just to play in front of the home crowd again,” Welle said.

There was still a lot of talk about the big road win, which came just four days after the loss at Kansas. The loss snapped the Cyclones 11-game winning streak.

“I think it’s good that we played Nebraska right after that, because it’s easy to get up for a game like that.,” Welle said. “Coach told us that it wasn’t a must-win, but I think we all kinda felt that it was.”

The first game between the two teams was won 83-68 by the Cyclones. Iowa State was led by Welle, who scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds.

“We know that Colorado is a really good team,” Welle said. “The Kansas State game showed us that we can’t look over anybody.”

The Cyclones, who have won 24 straight games in the friendly confines of Hilton Coliseum, will look to stay a game behind conference-leading Oklahoma.

The Sooners have yet to lose a game in the Big 12 but still must play at Iowa State and Texas Tech.

“I think right now that there are four teams, maybe more, that can win the conference. And just about every week from here on out, a team is going to drop. Our objective is just to be in the race and have a chance at the end,” Fennelly said.

Welle is also focused on the Big 12 conference race.

“Coach always brings it up, and we look at the standings a lot to see where we are and what we need to do,” Welle said.

That isn’t the only goal that the Cyclones are looking at, however.

Fennelly said he hopes the team makes one of the top four NCAA tournament seeds, entitling the Cyclones to host the subregionals.

Following the game Saturday, the Cyclones will face Oklahoma at home, then travel to Kansas State before returning home to take on Kansas and Missouri.

“Historically, Colorado has killed Iowa State. Oklahoma is in first place, so you don’t need to say much more about that. Kansas State beat us last year, and we just lost to Kansas,” Fennelly said.

After that stretch, the coach feels he will have an idea as to the shape of his team.

“We should now right where we are after the Kansas game, if we’re going to have a chance or not,” Fennelly said. “It’s a big stretch.”