“It’s the journey not the destination.”

As the loss to DePaul began to sink in, the words of head coach Jane Albright paid a bittersweet tribute to NIU’s four seniors.

Not only was the loss sinking in, but the knowledge that the journey of Lisa Foss, Denise Dove, Toby Meeks, and Denise Lipnisky may no longer include home-game appearances.

“This was a game that was very hard to lose for a lot of reasons,” Albright said. “This night wasn’t about the game, it was about these seniors.”

Although the DePaul loss is far from marking the end of NIU’s post-season possibilities there was little consolation for the Huskies’ dedicated seniors.

“We lost and even if we do go to the NCAA (tournament), it was the last time of going around after the game in my Northern uniform and slapping the hands of our fans,” Dove said. “To look them in the face and lose like that was really hard. I just wanted to give to the fans and the team.”

Dove was not the only one who wanted to give something back to the NIU fans. “When I was a freshman 100 people would come to our games and now we’re packing the stands,” Meeks said. “The fans really are the sixth man on the court and they’re why we’ve made it where we are today.”

Despite Thursday’s heartbreaker, Foss confirmed the team’s ability to bounce back.

“When you look at what we’ve done, starting with last year, since that was the step that got us here, I know that we’re okay,” Foss said. “It just gets really difficult when you’re undefeated all year and every team is coming at you to keep laying ahead every game.”