“Right now, we’re sky high,” NIU women’s basketball coach Jane Albright said after the Huskies beat the DePaul Blue Demons in Chicago last Thursday night, 81-75.

Tonight, the flying Huskies land in Valparaiso for a 7 p.m. match-up of North Star Conference opponents. NIU is looking to extend its conference record to 4-0 and 14-2 overall, while the Crusaders try to win their first NSC game of the young season and their first-ever victory over the Huskies.

Valparaiso is winless in eight tries against an NIU team bidding to win the NSC. Last season the Huskies handily defeated the Crusaders twice, 103-65 and 108-64.

In those two victories, NIU broke into the record books in various categories. The 108-point total equals the Huskies fifth highest points-scored total and in that same game, the Huskies blocked 15 Crusader shots—which is tops on the blocked shots list. Tammy Hinchee and Carol Owens, who are leading the NIU scoring attack with 21.8 and 20.8 points per game, respectively, had six blocks each. In the first contest, the Huskies were able to come up with 25 steals, a total second on the all-time list. Albright is expecting the same type of game tonight.

“I think they are going to try and run with us,” Albright said. “Our guards are a lot quicker and our post players a lot taller, so we’re going to get a lot of shots.”

An up-tempo game could mean trouble for a Valparaiso team that is struggling so far this season. The Crusaders started out with a 2-3 mark and went sour from there. They lost five straight and are trying to fight their way out of a slump. The addition of former Indiana high school female scoring phenom Debbie Bolen, a transfer from Purdue University who became eligible at the start of the second semester, should help the Crusader cause. The leading scorer for Valparaiso is their forward, Lynda Kukla. The Naperville North High School product is averaging 10.5 points per game.

Although NIU has a big advantage on paper, Albright’s main concern is a letdown after the big win over the Blue Demons.

“We’ve got to keep from coming down real quick,” Albright said. “But we pretty much know that if we lose down there, the DePaul win doesn’t mean much.”