Two hours of practice, another hour of individual shooting drills, followed by a one-on-one game is just a typical workout for NIU women’s basketball phenom Lisa Foss.

This probably explains why Foss is in the position to becme NIU’s all-time leading scorer Thursdy night versus the Wisconsin-Green Bay. Foss is a mere eight points away from Carol Owens’ record of 2,102 points.

Last week’s North Star Conference Player of the Week has strung together 33 consecutive games of reaching the double-digit plateau.

“Most definitely, I always have to shoot,” Foss said. “That’s the No. 1 thing that I always have to do, then I’ll try to get everything else in. I just can’t not shoot.”

The nation’s fifth leading scorer (26.4 pp) stated shooting hoops on the streets and in the gyms of Lake Zurich and turned into a hometown hero. When it came time to picking a college, Foss found NIU an easy choice.

“I believed in my coach (Albirght) who recruited me,” Foss said. “It was just a sense of trust. And I loved to play basketball, so I continued on.”

Just continued would be a remote understatement. In her first two seasons, Foss led the team in scoring and claimed MVP honors.

As a team, NIU was steadily moving into the national spotlight, and as an induvidual Foss seemed untouchable.

Then Foss injured her right knee in a freak accident. It was the last game of her sophomore season vesus Notre Dame.

“It happened on a break where Carol (Owens) outletted to me all they way down court. I was coming to spin back out andmy leg just buckled. I’m sure the people that were in the crowd remember it because I just started screaming. It was the weirdest thing.”

After reconstructive knee surgery and an off-season of intense preparation, Foss started the next season. After one game, Albright and she discussed the possibility of red-shirting.

“That was one of the biggest decisions we’ve ever made as far as the program is concerned,” Albright said.

“In one breath, I could say that was the worst thing that has ever happened to me – my whole life came to a stand-still. And then looking back, in the second breath, I could say it was the best year of my life just because I learned so much from it,” Foss said.

During each pre-game, Foss is accompanied by her biggest fan and critic. Both work out for at least one-and-a-half hourse before the opening tip-off.

“My dad takes me early,” Foss said. “I go through a series of mostly just shooting, but some ball-handling drills to get loose and stretch. Then I’ll just shoot all arond to feel confident and to stat sweating to get the feel of the gym.”

Foss’ parents, Ralph and Anell, come to every game that Lisa plays. But it is Mr. Foss who pushed Lisa the most.

“My mom always jokes that he know how many steps it takes for me to get down the court,” Foss said with a smile. “During the game, there is nothing that he wouldn’t know about me. He know’s every statistic. You could ask him anything and he would know.”

Come Thursday night, a good question might be: Did you ever think Lisa Foss would become NIU’s all-time leading scorer?