If anyone has ever warranted the use of the “I told you so” phrase, the 1990-91 women’s basketball team should definitely qualify.

Prior to the 1990-91 season, everyone and his brother questioned the Huskies’ potential due to the losses of Carol Owens, Tammy Hinchee and Kris Weis. Together those three accounted for over 52 points a game as the 1989-90 Huskies became the first women’s team in NIU history to gain an NCAA berth.

“I’ve said all along that it’s unfair to compare teams,” NIU coach Jane Albright explained. “When we started this year, nobody knew what to expect. I remember somebody saying, ‘If you finished above .500, it would be a great year.'”

NIU hardly started the new campaign as an average team. The Huskies won their first six ball games and raised many eyebrows.

In that surprising unbeaten run, NIU recorded victories over then 13th-ranked Washington (82-75), an overtime triumph at Southern Illinois (77-71) and then captured the University of Central Florida Tournament crown—a feat (winning a regular-season tournament) the 1989-90 club was never able to accomplish.

“The high points of the season have to be winning the tournaments,” Albright said. “And the win at Southern has to rank high—that was a great win early in the season.”

A three-game losing skid certainly didn’t aid Huskie morale.

“Losing those games in a row was a really tough stretch for us,” Albright admitted. “It was a time when we struggled to establish some identity.”

Albright and Co. ended the month of December with a victory over Boston College in the Purdue Boilermaker Classic, but it was still far from where the seventh-year coach anticipated.

Evidence of that happened right here in DeKalb when Vanderbilt came to Chick Evans Field House—a place where NIU had won 15 straight games. The Commodores knocked off the home team quite handily (79-65).

“A low point would have to be losing to Vanderbilt on our home court,” Albright pointed out.

Perhaps the best remedy for the Huskies was the commencement of league play. NIU opened North Star Conference action by defeating lowly Cleveland State, yet the contest was only won by a nine-point spread.

Slowly, confidence sided with the Huskies. Akron, Wright State, Valparaiso and UIC fell to the wayside rather easily. Then NIU pulled one out versus always-tough DePaul (91-82) at Alumni Hall.

An 81-80 triumph over second-place Wisconsin-Green Bay with no time on the clock added increased confidence to the team. NIU no longer wanted to win—they expected to.

Three blowouts later, the Huskies found “the going” extremely tough in Evanston. Northwestern humiliated NIU 91-66.

“That loss came at a time when you think you have your team primed,” Albright said. “And, instead, we had to run home.”

Bouncing back suddenly became the name of the game as visions of an NCAA bid started surfacing.

NIU would be the rubber ball. The Huskies (23-6, 12-1) have won five of their last six matches. All evidence indicates another NCAA showing even if the Huskies should stumble in the NSC Tournament (March 7-9) and deprive themselves of the automatic bid.

For a team that seemed so questionable back in November, the NIU Huskies sure have earned some bragging rights.