The Iowa State women’s basketball team will start the season off with three games on the road for the first time since 1973-74, the first year of the program.

Tonight, ISU will travel to Omaha, Neb. to take on the Creighton Blue Jays. Because of a scheduling conflict, the game will be played at Marian High School, a new gym that holds only 1,200 fans.

Because there are no reserve seats for the game and tickets will be sold at the door, many Cyclone fans figure to be left out in the cold, a fact that is not lost on coach Bill Fennelly.

“I am sure that they had to look at that as a reason to move into a smaller gym. We have a tremendous fan following, and I feel bad for them to not be able to go down there and have a seat guaranteed,” Fennelly said.

The Cyclones will be without the services of freshman Erica Junod, who is out with mono. They will, however, be playing with Lindsey Wilson, another freshman that just recently was taken off the redshirt list.

Also playing will be Stacy Frese, the Cyclones’ star point guard. She had sat out three days this week with a back problem, but Fennelly says she will be back.

“She’s fine. She did have to sit out a couple of days, but she’s going to start and play a lot,” Fennelly said.

The coach doesn’t feel that the high school atmosphere will have an adverse effect on his team.

“They’ve all played in high school, and they know what it’s going to be like. I mean, the dimensions are all the same and everything, so that won’t be a problem. I again just feel bad for our fans,” Fennelly said.

The Blue Jays, who normally draw about 500 fans, are expecting a large crowd tomorrow night.

Creighton is led by guard Krissie Spanheimer, who averaged 11.2 points and 5.0 rebounds a year ago. Another weapon in the backcourt is Angela Timmons, who poured in 22 points in the team’s last exhibition game.

The Cyclones went undefeated and untested in their exhibition contests, winning by an average of 25 points. One thing that did concern Fennelly was the lack of scoring from the inside, something he knows needs to improve in the regular season.

“At this point, it is a concern. But I do think that we have the players to get it done: We just have to do it. They know they have to play better,” Fennelly said.

As for the three road games in five days, Fennelly says it will hopefully be good for the team in the long run.

“I think it will make us a better team. It’s also nice to know that we can come home and have five out of six games at Hilton. It works both ways,” Fennelly said.

Sophomore forward Kelly Cizek is a native of Omaha. However, that’s not where the connection to Friday night’s game stops. Her sister Sara is a key contributor for the Bluejays.

“My family always really gets into these games. It’s fun for everybody. It’s always strange to be playing against your sister, but I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Cizek said.

Although Iowa State came up with a 79-60 win last year at Hilton Coliseum, Cizek was outscored by her sister 9-0.

“Believe me, I still haven’t heard the end of that,” Cizek said.

To prepare for the intimate setting, the Cyclones practiced with radios at full blast on Thursday.

Desiree Francis knows that the level of competition will be a huge jump starting tonight.

“Now that we are in the regular season, every team is good, and every team will be prepared to play us,” Francis said.

As for the atmosphere, Francis says she isn’t sure exactly what to expect.

“It’s going to be really different, I know that. Obviously it’s going to be different from Hilton, but even Forker is smaller and we still won’t know how it’s going to be,” Francis said.

But, she says, it shouldn’t matter where the game is played.

“As long as you are a good player, it doesn’t matter where you play. We just have to be ready to play, and go out there and do it,” Francis said.

After the game Friday night, the Cyclones will head to California, where they will take on Stanford on Sunday afternoon.

Tuesday night, the squad will take on San Francisco before heading home for Thanksgiving.