DePaul has been a thorn in NIU’s side ever since the Huskies joined the North Star Conference in 1987.

So it seemed only fitting that the Blue Demons sever NIU’s North Star Conference winning string at 26-straight and leave the four Huskie seniors with the emptiest feeling in the world Thursday night.

DePaul came into Chick Evans Field House and did what only one other team was capable of doing this season—knock off the 23-6 (12-1 in the NSC) Huskies in front of their home crowd, 79-74.

“This night wasn’t about a game, it was about these seniors,” a teary-eyed NIU coach Jane Albright said. “And probably the main reason I wanted to win was for them. There’s just not enough things you can say about these people.”

DePaul obviously cared less that Lisa Foss, Denise Dove, Toby Meeks and Denise Lipnisky were playing what may be their last game at Chick Evans—explaining the love-loss between the two schools.

DePaul utilized NIU’s 5-of-10 free-throw shooting in the first half to surmount a 12-point advantage with just under one minute left in the opening period (39-27).

Lisa Foss, who tallied a game-high 31 points, came up with NIU’s last four points of carrying the Huskies into the locker-room with some much-needed momentum.

“I was watching some tape yesterday on our team,” Albright said with more tears, “And I’ll tell you folks, I don’t know what’s going to happen from here on out, but Lisa Foss is the best player in this nation. She’s going to be a legend around here for a long, long time.”

Behind some spectacular play by sophomore Cindy Conner, who managed 23 points, the Huskies slowly climbed back into the contest. NIU came to within three points at the 12:06 mark, but DePaul wouldn’t break. The ‘Demons would run out to their biggest lead of the night with 4:50 to go (69-55).

Fighting an uphill battle once again, the Huskies managed to chop the margin to a mere five points with 20 seconds remaining, but it was too little, too late.

“DePaul was a better team tonight than we were,” Albright conceded. “They really played an unbelievably good game. I think you have to credit them for everything they did to us—they came in here, in front of our people, and pretty much controlled the night.”

A night that Foss, Dove, Meeks and Lipnisky would soon like to forget.

“We lost our last game, so that wasn’t picture-book,” a solemn Lisa Foss said. “But, I know we’re okay. Maybe we did need a kick.”

Life doesn’t get much easier for the Huskies as they head for the NSC regular-season championship game on Saturday at Wisconsin-Green Bay (19-5, 12-1).