'Dumb and Dumber' sums up ISU's NCAA hopes

Hitting .271 amounts to a respectable batting average for a major league ball player.

But as a shooting percentage for the Iowa State women's basketball team?

Not so much.

“No matter how you look at the numbers, it wasn't good,” Cyclone coach and ardent St. Louis Cardinals fan Bill Fennelly said of his team's season low field goal percentage effort in Saturday's 51-41 loss at Texas Tech.

ISU (14-9, 5-7 Big 12) also shot a season-worst 19.2 percent from 3-point range - and looks to rebound in Wednesday's 7 p.m. game against Kansas at Hilton Coliseum.

The Jayhawks (17-7, 6-6) won the first meeting 74-67 in overtime at Lawrence.

“We seem to play better at home,” Cyclone guard Lauren Mansfield said. “We need to take advantage of that and get as many wins as we can.”

ISU won't have to contend with Kansas star post player Carolyn Davis Wednesday.

She scored 21 points to spur a comeback in the first meeting, but suffered a season-ending leg injury in the Jayhawks' 47-43 loss Sunday at Kansas State.

Her absence won't make playing in the paint any more comfortable, though.

“It seems like we're going to have to play harder now, knowing she's out,” ISU forward Hallie Christofferson said. “You never know if somebody else is going to step up.”

ISU plays four of its final six regular season games at home - in front of the nation's second-largest average crowd for women's basketball in the country.

No one in Cardinal and Gold is publicly counting down to a mythical magic number in terms of attaining a sixth straight NCAA Tournament bid.

But it's widely believed a 9-9 conference mark would yield a berth.

Even 8-10 might get a Big 12 team in, given the conference's relative strength and depth.

“You're looking at 5-7 now and you could be 8-7, or you could be anywhere below that,” Fennelly said. “So there's great possibilities and at least a chance. It's like the ‘Dumb and Dumber' movie - ‘You're telling me there's a chance.' Hopefully there is a chance for us to do some things.”