The past few games have been a roller coaster ride for the ISU women’s basketball team. 

The roller coaster ride has had its ups — an upset win against No. 3 Texas at Hilton. It has also had a few downs — blowing a 20-point halftime lead against TCU and a 79-47 blowout loss against the new No. 3 Baylor Bears. 

Its been a whirlwind week or so, but the Cyclones are looking ahead rather than looking back.

“Its kind of hard to move past, but at the same time you have to,” said senior guard Nikki Moody. “You don’t really have a choice because you have another game coming up.”

That next game for the Cyclones is a rematch with Kansas State, a team that the Cyclones topped 60-55 at Hilton in the first few days of the new year. 

After opening up Big 12 play against the Wildcats, the Cyclones will look to get back to some sense of normalcy against them this weekend. 

“This is hard,” ISU coach Bill Fennelly said of the Big 12 schedule. “You kind of hit a little bit of a wall physically, emotionally, mentality. You’re not sure what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong. You have to go back to the basic stuff where it’s about effort, it’s about enthusiasm and things you can control.”

One thing Iowa State cannot control is injuries. The Cyclones have been dealing with starting point guard Jadda Buckley’s lingering injury issues and will now have to deal with those issues longer than expected.

On Jan. 16, Fennelly announced that Buckley will be out for “an extended period of time” and that Buckley’s foot is now in a cast after the injury was not healing like the team had hoped.

Nicole Blaskowsky, Buckley’s replacement in recent games, said she takes it upon herself to step up in Buckley’s absence. 

“Obviously it sucks that she is out for a while but when you face adversity, somebody has to step up and take that role and I think like I’ve done a pretty good job thus far,” Blaskowsky said. “When the opportunities are in front of you, why waste it?”

Blaskowsky made the most of that opportunity against Baylor, where she led the team with 20 points and six made three-pointers. 

As the team turns its focus to the matchup with Kansas State, it may seem like just another game in the brutal gauntlet that is the Big 12 but it could have big implications. 

“At the end of the year, if you have a good year — a solid year — it’s [because you] avoid losing streaks, and try to sweep someone if you can and that’s exactly where we are,” Fennelly said. “We have a chance to sweep K-State and try to avoid a two-game losing streak. If you can do that over an 18-game schedule, then you can be okay. When those things don’t happen is when you get yourself in trouble.”

Iowa State is looking to stay away from that trouble and get back on track with a Big 12 road win when they take on the Wildcats at 7 p.m. Jan. 17 in Manhattan, Kan.