The rhetoric around the ISU women’s basketball team near the end of this season has been about finishing the right way. ISU coach Bill Fennelly even has it written on the board inside the team’s locker room. 

As the regular season dwindled down and the Cyclones’ hopes of grabbing an at-large bit into the NCAA Tournament dwindled with it, Fennelly has continued to preach the importance of finishing. He especially stressed it to his young players who will carry this team next season and for seasons to come. 

But now that the regular season has come to a close and the team is prepping for the conference tournament, finishing is as important as ever.

Iowa State (13-16, 5-13 Big 12) will play in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament against Texas Tech (12-17, 3-15 Big 12) at 6 p.m. Friday in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Cyclones are the eighth seed in the tournament, and the Lady Raiders sit in ninth.

“It’s always the same when you get into postseason tournaments,” Fennelly said. “It’s a win-or-go-home mentality. We just want to play to the best of our ability, and when the last game ends, whenever it is, you know you played it to the best of your ability.”

Texas Tech won its first conference game when Iowa State traveled to Lubbock, Texas, on Jan. 17. The Lady Raiders won in overtime, 69-66, and sent the Cyclones on a five-game losing skid, which would quickly derail their season.

Iowa State turned the ball over 23 times.

But when Texas Tech came to Ames on Feb. 17, it was a shell of the team that won in Lubbock. The Cyclones shot 43.3 percent from the field in the 77-48 victory.

“Both teams are probably hoping for the night when they played the better game,” Fennelly said. “I think all of them understand what it takes.”

The Cyclones’ only chance to make the NCAA Tournament is to win the Big 12 Tournament. But that’s a lot easier said than done.

If Iowa State beats Texas Tech on Friday night, it will face No. 4 Baylor (30-1, 17-1 Big 12), which beat the Cyclones by a combined 53 points in two games this season, in the second round. 

Fennelly said his team is going to have to play spectacularly to pull off the upset. 

“We’re going to have to play probably better than we’re capable of playing,” Fennelly said. “I think that’s pretty evident. I think for us to do well in this tournament, we need everyone playing at a high level on the same night. And that hasn’t happened in a long time.”

It will be especially tough with the inexperience on the team. The Cyclones have two freshmen in the starting lineup and a redshirt sophomore. Pair that with the inexperienced and depth-starved bench, and it seems like a long shot. 

But the two seniors, Kidd Blaskowsky and Madison Baier, along with junior Seanna Johnson, have been attempting to prepare the young players for the toughness of the Big 12 Tournament.

“You’ve just got to stay focused,” Johnson said. “It’s not always going to go good. It’s not always going to be easy, but if you play hard form start to finish, we’ll be fine. I know the younger players have a lot to worry about, but it’s just like any other game.

“The Big 12 tournament is just like the same 40 minutes: the same people on the court, the same coaches, the same fans.”

Freshman Bridget Carleton is no stranger to win-or-go-home situations. She played on the Canadian U18/U19 women’s basketball team last summer in the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championships. The team lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament against the United States.

But even with the international experience, Carleton said she still doesn’t know what to expect.

“[The] seniors have kind of told me about it a little bit,” Carleton said. “I’m excited. It’s going to be a good experience for me.”

Although it will be a tough task, it’s going to come down to what Fennelly has preached in the past couple of weeks: finishing the right way. 

“You’ve got to catch lightning in a bottle, so to speak,” Fennelly said. “Those are the stories that you see every year that happens to somebody. You’ve got to kind of go and say, ‘Why not us?’ And go and give it a shot. Hopefully that’s what they’re thinking.”