I remember girls basketball in high school. Final scores of 38-32. A jump ball roughly every seven to nine seconds. One good player dominating the entire game.

When I came to Iowa State two years ago, I was vaguely aware that the school had a women’s basketball team. I was also aware that the team was horrible for a good stretch during my formative years.

So my first year at ISU, despite having a friend on the team, I never once made the five-minute walk to Hilton Coliseum to take in a game.

I had assumed the caliber would be a step above the horrors I had witnessed in high school, but the style of play would be roughly the same.

I was first drawn to a game last December, when the Cyclones played the hated Hawkeyes. I remember walking in a bit late to a crowd that was much smaller than what I had been used to for the men’s games.

Here we go again, I thought. Then the action began, and I discovered that this crowd, while smaller, was every bit as enthusiastic as the men’s crowd and a lot more positive toward the team.

As everyone knows, ISU came out with a victory in that game and would go on to lose only one home game the entire year.

The attendance records that were broken during the year didn’t tell the story of the effect the crowd had on the team.

The crowd of 3,000+ that was in attendance when ISU faced off against then No. 5 ranked Texas Tech was nothing short of incredible. The team fed off that enthusiasm, played perhaps its best game of the year and knocked off the Red Raiders.

And the two crowds for the NCAA tournament games against Kent and Rutgers were also fabulous, and they very nearly propelled the Cyclones to the Sweet Sixteen.

So being a part of the crowd is one thing that should encourage fans to head to the games. The other is the players themselves.

A floormate of mine — we’ll call him Chuck because that’s his name — was telling me he would never go to a woman’s game because it’s so slow and boring and just bad basketball.

Obviously, Chuck has never taken in an ISU women’s basketball game.

First, you have Stacy Frese. Although she is listed at 5-foot-8, the junior from Cedar Rapids is more like 5-foot-6. In warm-ups, you would never pick her out as the undisputed team leader.

Then the game begins, and one sees the diminutive Frese cut and slash her way through opposing defenses, make no-look passes and nail three-pointers from three feet beyond the line.

Before you know it, Frese has 15 points and eight assists, and ISU has secured another victory.

Then there is Megan Taylor. The sophomore from Minnesota is well on her way to becoming an All-American.

Although only 5-foot-11, Taylor led the Cyclones in rebounding a year ago and is doing so again this season with 8.7 boards per game.

Her relentless style of play, combined with her shooting touch, makes her very fun to watch.

Next in the line of exciting Cyclones is Desiree Francis. Longtime fans of women’s basketball in Ames have never seen the like of the junior college transfer originally from the West Indies.

One of the fastest players in every game, Francis regularly wows the crowd with her one-hand rebounds and lunging steals.

The myth that women’s basketball is a slow, prodding game with boring play and a small, inattentive crowd is just that: a myth.

However, there are many people, like my friend Chuck, who hold steadfastly to that claim.

One trip to Hilton Coliseum this winter will dispel any and all myths regarding the game.

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Josh Flickinger is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Rockford, Ill.