Just as things start warming up in DeKalb, the NIU women’s basketball team heads for the arctic cold.

NIU is stationed in Anchorage, Alaska for an eight-team tournament that commences late Friday (11 p.m. CST) when NIU battles the University of Texas-San Antonio on the neutral court.

On paper, NIU is favored to win the Northern Lights Invitational by virtue of the best record, 20-5. The Huskies’ first-round opponent checks in at 16-9 and have been victors in 10 of their last 12 contests.

“They are a team that’s got a lot of momentum on their side,” NIU coach Jane Albright said. “But we’re happy that we get to play them first. I’m glad that we got a good draw. It’ll be good competition as we prepare for our own tournament.”

Of course Albright is referring to the North Star Conference Championships which take place at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay starting March 7. Although an NCAA bid is not on the line in Alaska, Albright and Co. would not mind returning to the Midwest with their third first-place tournament showing this season.

“I think it’s going to be really fun to play and hopefully we can win it,” Albright said.

Two of the top teams in the field include the University of Louisville (19-7) and the host Seawolves of the University of Alaska-Anchorage (18-6).

“Louisville is definitely one of the best teams,” Albright said. “And the home team won it last year, so they have to be feeling really good about that.”

Albright feels that the biggest obstacle to overcome may be the number of games in so few days.

“The biggest challenge of the tournament is that it’s three days in a row and we’ll be playing in a different time zone,” Albright acknowledged. “With the game we played (Wednesday) night, we’ll be playing four games in five days.”

Speaking of the Wednesday game in which NIU narrowly defeated UIC (67-59) and tallied a season-low 27 points in the first half, Albright expressed little concern heading into the Alaskan festivities.

“We weren’t really ready to play,” Albright noted. “If it was DePaul or Green Bay, it might’ve been different, but it wasn’t. I don’t think it’s any indication that we’re playing poorly, so we’re not worried at all.”

If NIU wins Friday, it will play at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. The championship will be at 9:00 p.m. Sunday.

All NIU games will be broadcast on WKDI radio (93.5 FM) and Channel 8 of DeKalb’s TV Cable system.