When ISU coach Bill Fennelly’s 11:30 a.m. Monday press conference rolled around, he had already moved on. 

Just a couple hours earlier, Fennelly’s starting forward, Bryanna Fernstrom, had walked into his office and requested her release from Iowa State. Fernstrom’s request did come as a surprise, but Fennelly’s focus had already shifted to “the kids who want to be here.” 

Now with Fernstrom out of the Cyclone lineup for good, Fennelly has two true forwards to work with for the rest of the season, Meredith Burkhall and Claire Ricketts. But he and his coaching staff have been dealing with lack of depth all season, so that doesn’t bother him so much. 

“It doesn’t change anything for me,” Fennelly said. “We have kids in the program that love playing at Iowa State and love playing hard. We’ll have to get more creative. For me, it’s always been the same.”

Fennelly has been creative with his lineup ever since the injury to TeeTee Starks in December. He has primarily gone with a four-guard, one-forward lineup, but he occasionally has gone with a three-guard, two-forward approach. 

This time around, it’s going to be on Burkhall’s freshman shoulders to take over the loss of minutes. Burkhall averages 17.3 minutes per game on the season, just under three minutes less than Fernstrom. But in Big 12 play — the last four games — Burkhall has averaged a minute more than Fernstrom. 

Burkhall drew her fourth start of the season against Kansas on Saturday, and her first in Big 12 play, because of her recent success, Fennelly said.

“[Burkhall] earned [the start],” Fennelly said after the game Saturday. “She’s played the best out of all the forwards recently. We thought the pace of the game would air on the side of someone who has scored the ball a little bit. [Burkhall] has done that. Obviously, we have struggled in the post recently.”

But even with a bigger uptick in minutes and more starts, Burkhall is ready to go.

“I’m going to have step up,” Burkhall said. “Just like all the other posts on the team. We’re going to have to work together as a team. With our actions, we’re going to have to build and change some things.” 

This isn’t the first big loss that Fennelly has dealt with this season. Starks underwent knee surgery that likely ended her season in December. Her position, point guard, was a thin position for the Cyclones, but Fennelly has still managed to make it work. 

In that case, backup guard Emily Durr saw an increase in minutes, and Jadda Buckley took on a larger role as the only true point guard on the team. Seanna Johnson also shared some time taking the ball up the court. 

Although Burkhall and Ricketts will see the majority of lost playing time, Fennelly said there is no set plan for the team going forward in terms of the starting lineup. It’s going to come down to a game-by-game basis. 

“We’re going to play the players that match up with the opponent,” Fennelly said. “I think everything is game-to-game. We’ve predominately been a four-guard, one-post team 85 percent of the time, so I don’t think that will change. Some of the opportunity to go bigger will be affected, but that’s what the coaches have to come up with, and hopefully the players will adapt to that.”