The ISU women’s basketball team hasn’t had the easiest non-conference schedule so far, particularly in the past four games, playing teams that are a combined 21-6 this season. 

And Iowa State (2-3, 0-0 Big 12) will face another tough team when it travels to Northern Iowa (3-2, 0-0 MVC) for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday night. The Cyclones are coming off of a four-game stretch, during which they went 1-3.

“They’re very good; very good,” said head coach Bill Fennelly. “They’ve played very well up to this point. Certainly any in-state game you play is going to be hard. On the road, they’re even harder.”

It will also mark the team’s fifth straight road game. The last time the Cyclones played five straight road games, not including the postseason, came in the 2008-09 season, when the team played six straight games away from home. Iowa State went 4-2 in that span. 

“It’s a little difficult, especially when we’ve been playing the way we’ve been playing,” said forward Bryanna Fernstrom.

Iowa State scheduled a game against New Orleans on Nov. 22 that was postponed because of travel issues. The Cyclones then traveled south to Cancun, Mexico, for a three-game swing, going 1-2.

The game against New Orleans was intended to act as a break in the road games.

“The New Orleans game was really a bad thing for us,” Fennelly said. “That was a chance for us to play, for not any other reason [than] that it [breaks] up the road trips and gets you more into a flow.” 

It doesn’t help that the Cyclones are a young team, with three freshmen and only two seniors. Ever since the struggles began against Drake on Nov. 15, the Cyclones haven’t been able to come home to try and break that streak. 

“We’re going to go a month between home games,” Fennelly said. 

One of the key players the team may be missing is freshman Bridget Carleton, who took a shot to the face against Duke last week and needed stitches. Fennelly said only seven players were healthy enough to fully practice Monday. 

Most of the players who are injured will be a game-time decision if they play Wednesday. 

“Whoever is healthy enough to suit up and wear a uniform, we expect to play well and play hard,” Fennelly said. “No one wants to hear your excuses, no one wants to hear you feel sorry for yourself. That’s the message to the team, and we’ve got to play better. Whoever is available has to do more, and sometimes that’s the way life is. Sometimes you have to do more.”

Although the Cyclones will enter the game with a thin lineup, UNI will be going in with a full head of steam. The Panthers went to Cancun during the break as well, beating Georgia Tech and almost knocking off a No. 22 Seton Hall team. 

Northern Iowa is the next opponent in a series of tough matchups in Iowa State’s non-conference season. 

“Our schedule has been very, very good up to this point, and it’s not going to change on Wednesday,” Fennelly said.