Thursday night’s 97-48 victory by the NIU women’s basketball team left the Norwegian National team and their head coach Roy Porter totally impressed, totally intimidated, and totally beaten.

Porter had nothing but praise for the Huskies who quickly dictated the tempo of the game with physical play on defense and an extrememly fast-paced offense.

“They (NIU) executed well and I’m very impressed with their three guards,” Porter said. “The tempo of the game was our biggest problem as well as the physical play.”

“We are a little embarrassed about our performance. We were intimidated by how many open shots they hit early on and this took us out of the game mentally.”

Porter felt coming in to the contest that his team was ready to play well.

“We arrived in Chicago on Tuesday and practiced at DePaul University Wednesday,” said Porter. “I thought we were fresh and ready to play, but we were a little sluggish. They deserve all the credit.”

Porter went on to explain that winning the game would have been nice, but the Norwegian team also experienced something special Thursday night.

“The atmosphere here was so special and it was fun and exciting to come in here and see the noise and the interest for basketball,” said Porter.

“In Norway the crowd is quiet for most of the game and it’s great to see this communication between the team and the fans. That experience is what our trip is all about.”