Blowouts are rapidly becoming a way of life for the NIU women’s basketball team.

Led by six players in double figures, the Huskies (16-4, 8-0) squashed North Star Conference foes, Cleveland State University, by a 98-65 tally Thursday night at Chick Evans Field House.

“Can we play it again?” Cleveland State coach Alice Khol questioned. “Northern Illinois is an outstanding program and the thing that makes that so obvious is the six players in double figures. You can’t shut down one person and expect to take the game from them.”

That’s what NIU boss Jane Albright has been emphasizing all along. The Huskies’ ability to go 10 players deep just doomed the CSU team that only dressed nine players.

“I asked Jane to give me a few (players), and she wouldn’t,” Khol joked. “She’s like that though—very possessive.”

Perhaps Albright teaches that possessive trait to her team because every time CSU came close to turning things around, the Huskies turned up the defense.

Up until the 6:40 mark of the first half, the Vikings were hanging within one point (28-27). Finally, NIU went on a 10-0 run and maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the night. Debbie Teske started the run with a right-baseline jumper and ended it in the same spot. The sophomore went on to score 10 points to add to her four assists and six rebounds.

For the second game in a row, freshman Angela Lockett ignited the Huskies in the opening minutes. Lockett scored eight of her 18 points in the first six minutes. She ended with a game-high 13 caroms and four crucial blocked shots, giving her the double-double.

“(Lockett) did an outstanding job,” Khol said. “When she hit the fourth shot (to start the game), I looked to my assistant and said ‘I think she’s going to have one of those nights tonight.'”

Certainly Lockett wasn’t the only player to have “one of those nights.” Cindy Conner also notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards. Dianna Wingis, who contributed a dozen points of her own, just missed the double-double by two rebounds. And Dee Dee Jeske put up 11 more points for NIU.

The All-American candidate, Lisa Foss, was the game’s leading scorer. Foss missed only one shot in the first half en route to her 25-point, eight-rebound performance.

“We accomplished one goal,” Khol suggested. “Instead of rolling over and dying, my kids said Northern’s not going to score 100 points—you got to look for the bright things.”