After a 7-23 record in her first season in DeKalb, NIU women’s basketball head coach Jacey Brooks is focused on building from the foundation built in her first season,
The first-year head coach led NIU women’s hoops to an 11th place finish in the Mid-American Conference after the Huskies finished with a 4-14 conference record.
The team played well down the stretch, winning two of its final three games, and showed improved shooting numbers throughout the season.
“I think Year 1 is just really important to be able to create your culture and lay your foundation for years to come,” Brooks said. “I feel that’s what I’ve done since last April. We had a good balance of returners, freshmen and transfers. I think if you look at how much we grew throughout the season it was pretty incredible. I give the team a lot of credit for staying the course and trusting the process. We used those words a lot as we were building things and it was fun to see how much they came together as a unit and learn the offense and the defense and it showed on the court.”
Brooks inherited a roster that saw many departures from the 2024-2025 season, which saw four seniors graduate and several other transfers.
Some of the talent brought in by Brooks before her first season included junior forward Nevaeh Wingate, freshman guard Emilie Sorensen and graduate guard Nadechka Laccen.
“When we look at transfers, it’s not only who they are as basketball players, it’s who they are as people,” Brooks said. “We make sure to do character checks because that’s really important to me. I don’t care how good you are if you aren’t a good person. A good person is going to be a good fit. On the basketball side we need to make sure we get the right people, the competitors. The ones that want to be able to compete right away when we make this transition to the Horizon League.
Brooks also inherited senior guards Alecia Doyle and Maria Serracanta who were on the 24/25 team, with Doyle missing the season due to injury.
Wingate, after spending time at St. John’s, led the Huskies in points, rebounds and steals in her first season in the red and black.
Sorensen impressed in her freshman season, finishing third on the team in points and leading the team in made threes and three-point percentage.
Sorensen finished in eighth place in the MAC in both three pointers made and three-point percentage in just her first collegiate season.
Doyle, despite not playing in the 25/26 campaign, started 30 games the year prior and finished the season with 11.5 points per game while shooting 39% from three.
Doyle, along with Sorensen and Wingate, is expected to return to NIU for the 2026-2027 season under Brooks.
Serracanta was the facilitator of the offense as she finished as the only Huskie to have over 100 points, rebounds and assists on the season. Serracanta also had the best assist/turnover ratio in the MAC at 2.0.
“It’s huge, it’s huge,” Brooks said. “We’re returning three of our top four scorers and I haven’t looked yet but we might be the only team in the country that’s doing that. It’s really difficult to do. I think Nevaeh really saw her progression as an individual player. She came from St. John’s where she scored 11 points total in two years. So, to see what she did last year was really cool. And with Emilie, it’s been great to have her come back. We know she can shoot the ball well but to see how much she grew throughout the season where she started to identify herself as a shooter. We’re just so much further ahead than last season. And with Alecia, someone of her capability, we know what she can do, what she did here in the previous year. Her injury was devastating to us all and sometimes you have to reflect back and think maybe it was a blessing in disguise. She saw the game differently, it slows the game down. So, we’re really excited.”
The Huskies are set to move on from the MAC to the Horizon League, going into Brooks’ second season at the helm.
The Huskies will square off with the reigning Horizon League champs, Green Bay as well as other opponents such as Youngstown State and Cleveland State in their new conference.
