Cyclones will need Hilton Magic against No. 10 Green Bay

AMES - Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly left the Hilton Coliseum floor two years ago after a tense 60-56 NCAA tournament second-round win over upstart Green Bay certain of two things.

One, it was a thrilling, well-played game.

Two, without one of the most ardent fan bases in the country, the Phoenix may have been advancing to the Sweet 16 instead.

“It's one thing for people to show up to a game,” said Fennelly, whose 10th-seeded Cyclones (18-12) play host to No. 7 Green Bay (30-1) again in Saturday's 5:30 p.m. tournament first round matchup. “It's another thing to show up to a game, be invested in the result and be attached to the players and have the knowledge of the game as in ‘they need us now.'”

The Cyclones seek to improve to 7-0 in tournament openers play at home.

Fennelly said a lot of that historic success stems from the stands as well as his players.

And as of Friday afternoon, about 4,500 advance tickets had been sold for Satuday's action - part of which conflicts with the ISU men's tournament game (6:45 p.m. tip) against Kentucky.

“There'll be a lot of people with things in their ears and phones, but that's the nature of it,” Fennelly said. “It's a good problem that we're both playing.”

The 10th-ranked Phoenix view the Cyclones' home-court advantage as exciting rather than daunting.

“Our players thrive in the sort of situation that Iowa State's home court advantage here at Hilton presents,” Green Bay guard Hannah Quilling said.

As for their relatively ordinary seed, given their high national ranking ...

“I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with our seed,” said Phoenix coach Matt Bollant, whose team reached the Sweet 16 last season before falling 86-76 to top-seeded Baylor. “But we can't control that. We've never been about making excuses.”

Green Bay features versatile center/forward Julie Wojta, who serves as the conduit for a free-wheeling offense averaging 74.6 points per game.

“I told our players she's (ISU men's star) Royce White,” Fennelly said. “She leads the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals. ... You don't stop kids like that. You just hope she doesn't totally take over the game.”

The Cyclones counter with Chelsea Poppens, who is averaging a double-double (14.3 points, 10.7 rebounds) - and marveled as a freshman at how raucous Hilton can get, particularly at tournament time.

“It was like you couldn't hear when your point guard called a play,” the junior from Aplington said. “You could hardly hear each other talk on the court. Our crowd was just going berserk. It was spectacular to be part of that.”

Now Poppens and the Cyclones will be part of it again - facing Green Bay as an underdog, not a favorite.

“We've already heard things that a lot of people expect Green Bay to win,” ISU senior guard Lauren Mansfield said. “So I think we can use that to out advantage, use that for motivation.”

That and the crowd - whatever the size, however much it needs to multitask.

“It's just going to be a good one,” Poppens said. “Hilton magic.”

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