The Cyclones will travel to Austin, Texas, this weekend in an attempt to win their third conference road game and build upon their postseason résumé in a critical stretch of the season.

Iowa State (16-11, 7-9 Big 12) will take on No. 6 Texas (21-6, 14-2 Big 12) Friday night as they try to keep the hot streak alive and achieve four victories in a row.

A win this weekend would help Iowa State’s placement in the Big 12 Championship and help to further impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Cyclones have been a bubble team for the past few weeks, and ESPN has the team on the outside looking in as one of the first four teams out in its latest Bracketology.

A win over Texas on the road would go a long way in building that résumé. 

“If you can go on the road and beat a top ten team like Texas, that would go a long way to building a great résumé,” coach Bill Fennelly said. “We understand what’s in front of us. The good thing is, like we keep saying, it’s fun to play games that are important this time of year.”

Calling the upcoming game against Texas important is an understatement. A win from the Cyclones would likely secure them, at the very least, a six seed in the Big 12 tournament and a first-round bye.

Senior Seanna Johnson is entering her last stretch of games as a Cyclone and is excited about the team’s new found energy and confidence entering the last two games of the conference schedule.

“It’s a lot more fun [playing in important games],” Johnson said. “We know we have a lot more work to do in order to just beat Texas. It starts with practice… and we just have to build off our momentum that we’ve been having.”

In its last game, Iowa State dominated Kansas on the road, 90-75. The Cyclones jumped out to a hot start and never trailed throughout the entirety of the game.

A big catalyst for the Cyclones’ quick start was sophomore Meredith Burkhall. She scored the team’s first nine points and would end up leading the team with a career high 20 points and eight rebounds.

Coming off her big game, Burkhall talked about how she thinks she has improved as the season has progressed.

“I think I’m just getting used to playing and getting used to everyone,” Burkhall said. “I’m getting used to playing with Jadda [Buckley], Seanna [Johnson] and Bridget [Carleton]. Just knowing my role on the team, trying to get rebounds and do what I can.”

The first time the Cyclones played the Longhorns this season was almost two months ago. The Cyclones lead in that game with less than three minutes to go, but couldn’t hang on to get the win, losing 75-68 at home.

Although the game was weeks ago and both teams are very different now than the beginning of the conference season, Fennelly doesn’t plan on changing the way they prepare for the game.

“I think Texas is a different team, I think we’re a different team,” Fennelly said. “People have established their roles a little bit better and hopefully it’s a situation where our kids are playing with a lot of confidence now.

“We want to fine tune our games the best we can and hopefully clean some things up from the first time.”