While the students are away, the NIU women’s basketball team continues its play.

Coach Jane Albright and her team will be busy during the holiday break as they play 10 games during the month off from studies.

The break starts in DeKalb on Saturday Dec. 16 as the Huskies face their third Big 10 foe of the season, the University of Illinois. The first two Big 10 opponents proved to be no contest for NIU. The Huskies (3-1) beat the University of Minnesota by 23 points (98-75) and Northwestern by 24 points (99-74). NIU only beat Illinois by five points last season and Albright feels that the Fighting Illini game will not be much different this year.

“U of I is playing real well right now,” Albright said. “They are really going to give us a run for our money.”

A Sunday off and the Huskies get right back out on the Chick Evans Field House floor for a Monday night (7 p.m.) match-up with the Southern Illinois University Salukis. Revenge will be a motive in this game because the last time the two teams met, the Salukis came up eight-point victors (73-61) in overtime.

“SIU is picked to win the Gateway,” Albright said. “They beat us in overtime last year and I think the kids haven’t forgotten.”

After those two home games, the Huskies head out on the road for the next six contests. And the one they are thinking about the most is on Dec. 20 in Seattle. The Huskies will meet the 8th-ranked Lady Jacks of Stephen F. Austin State University in the first round of the Seattle Times/Washington Huskie Classic Tournament. The Lady Jacks are one of the top teams in the country. They finished 30-4 from one year ago and they made it to the semi-final round of the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Jacks return three starters from their 1988-89 squad including one of the top players in the country in senior forward Portia Hill who averaged 23.9 points and 12.4 rebounds per contest last season.

“Playing a Top 10 team on a neutral court is enticing,” Albright said. “I’m sure they’ll be undefeated when we play them. They have one of the best players in the country in Portia Hill. As a team, I think we match up real well with them.”

Another Top 20 team, the University of Washington, and the University of Utah round out the tournament teams.

It doesn’t get any easier as NIU travels to Fullerton, Cal., to take on California-State Fullerton, yet another Top 20 squad on Dec. 29. San Diego State, Nebraska and Creighton are the three final stops for the Huskies, then they come home again to start North Star Conference play against the University of Akron (Jan. 11) and Cleveland State University (Jan. 13).

“It’s a lot of road games,” Albright said. “Realistically, I think if we can come out of it with a couple of losses, it’ll be successful. We need to stay focused on team and team objectives and we’ll be fine.”