NIU athletics announced the release of NIU women’s basketball’s non-conference schedule Friday after releasing the Mid-American Conference schedule in August. 

The Huskies enter a national stage on Nov. 6 facing off against the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa is one year removed from former Hawkeye guard Caitlin Clark breaking the all-time NCAA scoring record, as well as competing in the NCAA National Championship. 

The only other Power Five program NIU plays is the University of Missouri. 

The Huskies’ first conference game is against the University of Toledo Rockets on Jan. 1. The Huskies were swept by the Rockets last season and the Rockets were also the MAC’s regular-season champions.

NIU’s schedule also features the MAC-SBC (Sun Belt Conference) challenge for the second year in a row. The Huskies begin the challenge in their first game of the season against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The second game will be played in February and the opponent is yet to be announced. 

Last year, NIU dropped its first game of the challenge to Arkansas State University in November, but defeated Georgia Southern University in February to close the event. 

The Huskies open the season at home against Louisiana on Nov. 4 at the Convocation Center. This marks the first ever matchup between Louisiana and NIU.