The visiting team hasn’t had the easiest time in the women’s basketball CyHawk rivalry during the past few seasons. Ever since the 2006-07 season, when the Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes in Iowa City, the home team has emerged victorious.

This season, though, that could change.

ISU women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly said No. 23 Iowa (8-1, 0-0 Big 10), which will visit Iowa State (4-3, 0-0 Big 12) on Friday night at Hilton Coliseum, enters as the better team on paper.

The Hawkeyes are ranked No. 23 in the AP poll and No. 19 in the USA Today coaches poll.

“Their efficiency on offense and their balance on offense is incredible,” Fennelly said. “They shoot the ball great. Their balance from one to five is not something that many college teams can say that they have. Ally Disterhoft is as good a player as we’re going to play all year-long.”

Iowa may be the better team on paper, but Iowa State has the benefit of being at home. Dating back to 1996, Iowa State hasn’t lost to Iowa at Hilton Coliseum, which spans nine games at home.

“This series has become one where the home team has kind of dominated, and this is the first time that I can remember where the visiting team is better than the home team,” Fennelly said. “I’m not insulting our team, but they’re in the top 25, and we’re not. They’re 8-1. We’re 4-3. We’ve got a lot to prove.”

The coaching staff is challenging the players every day to understand what’s on the line. Fennelly said that mindset and approach needs to be embedded — especially against Iowa.

Iowa State is coming off of a couple of wins against Northern Iowa and Southern. Winning the month of December has been Iowa State’s mantra as of late, and the team can go 3-0 in the month with a win Friday.

“We have a focus on December. Anything that’s happened before then, it’s not in our heads right now,” said senior Kidd Blaskowsky. “We have a short-term goal for December that is very important to our coaches and to us, and Iowa is a part of December. We’re going to have to buy into the coaches’ plan and embrace that process.”

The plan for stopping the Hawkeyes isn’t a big secret. The Cyclones need to focus on the little things to slow down the Hawkeyes.

“They have a great program with great players,” Fennelly said. “For us, you can’t stop everything. You try to be smart about it — keep them off the free-throw line and try to take away a couple things. At the end of the day, we’ve got to play better offensively. Our balance has got to be better.

“We’ve got to make more shots. I’m more worried about our [offense] than our defense.”

Iowa State will also have to slow down Disterhoft. Disterhoft is shooting 53 percent from the field and 88 percent from the free-throw line. She’s averaging 16.1 points per game.

“It’s hard to [slow down Disterhoft] because they put her in a lot of spots,” Fennelly said. “She understands the game. She knows when to be aggressive and when not to be. You don’t stop great players. You try to take away a couple things.”

Iowa State has to avoid committing any “silly fouls” and not getting beat in transition. Fennelly hopes the team can make Iowa guard at the other end to wear it out a bit.

“This game is going to prove a lot,” said junior Seanna Johnson. “Our matchups will equal out.”

The Cyclones will take on their in-state rival at 7 p.m. Friday at Hilton Coliseum.