With only four conference games left, the Cyclones look to climb the Big 12 standings and grab a spot in the postseason.

Iowa State (14-11, 5-9 Big 12) will attempt to do just that when it faces off against West Virginia (18-8, 6-8 Big 12) in Hilton Coliseum Saturday afternoon.

The Cyclones are coming off an important win against Texas Tech last Wednesday night. The win moved the Cyclones into sixth in the conference and sets them up nicely to tie for fifth with a win over West Virginia.

Coach Bill Fennelly talked Friday about the team finishing the season strong and how he wants his players to separate the rest of the regular season from the conference tournament.

“We talk about finishing all the time,” Fennelly said. “Whether you’re good, bad, or in between, it takes a special skill set to finish something. We’ve talked about that a lot and hopefully that’s their mindset.

“We separate our seasons, we don’t talk about the Big 12 tournament. We always take that as its own world. For us it’s from today until February 27 is the world we’re living in right now.”

The first time the Cyclones and Mountaineers met this season was just two weeks ago, when Iowa State dominated the game beating the then No. 25 West Virginia in Morgantown.

In the 80-55 win, the Cyclones were led by sophomore guard Bridget Carleton, who tied a career high with 31 points, seven rebounds, and one assist.

Carleton talked about what she needed to do to repeat her stellar performance from two weeks ago.

“I think I have a good opportunity because they don’t have many tall guards,” Carleton said. “I definitely have some mismatches, so I can post up on their smaller guards… We all just have to play well and hopefully we come out with a win.”

Aside from Carleton’s performance, the Cyclones were helped by their great defensive performance on one of West Virginias best players, Lanay Montgomery.

Montgomery leads the conference in field goal percentage and is second in rebounding. However, last time out, Iowa State held the 6-foot-5 center to just five points and nine rebounds.

Fennelly talked about what it took to slow her down and how they plan to do that again.

“I think that’s probably the best post defense we’ve played,” Fennelly said. “I think Mere [Burkhall] and Heather [Bowe] did a great job of just making it tough for her to catch the ball. I thought we did a really good job of doing the little things that we could do and luckily it worked out that way.”

One factor that will help the Cyclones this time around is the atmosphere of being at home in Hilton Coliseum. Even though Iowa State was able to beat West Virginia by 25 points in West Virginia, Hilton magic is always a good thing to have on your side.

The Cyclones have defended their home court well this year. The team is 13-4 at home with the only losses coming from teams that currently rank inside the top 20 in the AP poll.

The team hopes to continue their home success and carry it into the post season. Carleton says the win at West Virginia and the upcoming games have big potential to help the team gain momentum.

“After that win [West Virginia], we knew the potential we had and the reality of the postseason.” Carleton said. “Any road win in the Big 12 is good… It brought our confidence up and hopefully we can use that to finish out the season.”