Losing by 58 points is no laughing matter, just ask the UIC team. But losing three seniors from a Top 25 team isn’t all that great either.

Even though Sunday’s game at Chick Evans Field House wasn’t the last home game for the NIU women’s basketball team, it was officially the last regular-season home game for the Huskies and Carol Owens, Tammy Hinchee and Kris Weis. The trio of seniors that are in the NIU record books for various accomplishments took a bow before extinguishing the Flames.

“In our team photo before the beginning of the game, Coach Albright told the seniors that she didn’t want us to get too sentimental and she wouldn’t get too sentimental, so don’t take it hard if she doesn’t cry or anything like that,” center Carol Owens said, “because she said we have 10 more games and the tournament so this is not necessarily our last home game, but just senior appreciation day. And it’s a good feeling to know that it’s not over.”

For UIC, the game seemed over from the start. The Huskies got the first bucket and never looked back, thanks to a 27-point, 14-rebound effort from Owens. Weis tallied a season-high 21 points and 10 boards and Hinchee managed 13 points and 6 rebounds after picking up her third foul early on. The seniors played like it was their last.

“It was an extremely balanced game,” Huskie coach Jane Albright said. “C.O. on the boards, I think that’s the best I’ve seen her hitting those. They all did a great job.”

Not only have they done a great job in this game, but for the entire season and four years at NIU. Hinchee will leave NIU as the top rebounder and no. 2 scorer. Owens will depart as the all-time scorer in Huskie history with 2,000 plus points and the leader in blocked shots, while Weis leaves her mark for consecutive free-throws made (37).

Albright called her 1990 seniors “the measuring stick for our success for years to come.”

Other than Albright, nobody knows these players better than their own blood, their parents, who were on hand to receive the framed photographs of their NIU careers.

“It’s been real rewarding over the four years,” Lestine Owens said, “to see them just like a little family. It’s a little sad getting close to the end, but it has been a good year.”

“I’m real proud of her (Tammy),” Linda Hinchee said. “The last four years have gone really fast. It’s fun to see them get to this point.”

“It looks like they’re gelling at the right time,” Bud Weis said. “We told Kris that wherever she went we would follow her and it’s really been fun. We’re about 400 miles from here, but we’ve enjoyed every minute of it. This is a great place for her to be.”