Fans of Iowa State women’s basketball may have been a little greedy before the 1998-99 season opened.

Coming off an outstanding 1997-98 campaign, the team had shown real talent and the ability to pull off the big win.

After the season, however, the Cyclones were forced to replace a pair of the program’s finest post players in Janel Grimm and Jayme Olson with a number of newcomers, who were unfamiliar with head coach Bill Fennelly or his program.

And fans expected a repeat performance.

Observers came to expect big things from names like Frese and Taylor, and they weren’t disappointed.

However, it was contributions from names like Gahan, Welle and Francis that fans couldn’t have expected and ISU couldn’t have survived without.

Tracy Gahan and Angie Welle came to Ames straight from successful careers in high school, and Desiree Francis came to ISU after a prosperous junior college career.

Despite playing in their first seasons at the Division I collegiate level, the talented trio excelled throughout the year, contributing to Fennelly’s scrappy defensive schemes and supplementing the scoring of team leaders Stacy Frese and Megan Taylor.

Gahan, Welle and Francis combined for 31.7 points and 18.6 rebounds per game this year, taking a lot of the offensive pressure upon themselves and opening up opportunities for their teammates.

The three have enjoyed their time at ISU so far, though they admit that the pressure at this level and Fennelly’s fervor took some getting used to.

“We knew he was going to be a great coach,” Gahan said, “but the intensity and pressure have been more than I expected.”

“He’s obviously hard on his players,” Welle said, “but you can see how well people like Jayme and Janel played after being with him so long. He’s a great coach.”

“He may yell and rant and rave,” Francis said, “but it’s all for the best.”

Gahan arrived in Ames last semester as a freshman from McKinney, Texas. Highly touted out of high school, she was named the state’s Class 4A Player of the Year her senior season and started every varsity game of her four-year high school career.

Gahan quickly established herself as a starter for the cardinal and gold, averaging 7.3 points per game and contributing 75 assists and 31 steals over the course of the year. The 6-foot-1 guard, who was third on the team, also showed some great athletic ability in blocking 14 shots on the season.

Welle also arrived at ISU fresh out of high school, hailing from Fargo, N.D. The tallest player in Cyclone history, Welle used her 6 feet 4 inches to great advantage before college as she was named the state’s 1997 Class A Player of the Year.

The towering center has started all but one game this season, turning in 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest. Welle has also managed to shoot a team-high .600 from the field and block a total of 27 shots in her 29 games.

Francis came to Iowa from the West Indies and to ISU as a junior after playing two years at Kirkwood Community College. The talented forward excelled at the junior college level, averaging around 20 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Since arriving at ISU, Francis has filled the role of explosive sixth-man, adding excitement to the court early into each game. She has averaged 13.6 points and 7 rebounds per game off the bench, in addition to piling up 12 blocked shots and a team-high 47 steals.

Although it took a while to open up, they insist the team is now very close, and they thank their fellow Cyclones for their help with the transition.

“I remember the first couple of practices, where we were all really quiet,” Gahan said. “It took a little while to get to know everybody, but now we’re all great friends.”

Gahan, Welle and Francis have also been very impressed with their fans, who they hope will cheer them to victory on Friday against Santa Clara.

“The support has just been incredible the whole year,” Gahan said.

“We have some of the best fan support in the nation,” Welle said. “It’s been a great experience and, to top it off, we get to play at home again this weekend.”

The Cyclones play again at Hilton on Sunday if they can get past Santa Clara, but in the tournament, no one is willing to look ahead.

“We’ll play the game on Friday first, and after that, we can worry about Sunday’s game,” Francis said. “We aren’t going to jump ahead of ourselves.”