Eight months later, with the memory of DePaul beating them for the North Star Conference championship still fresh in their minds, the NIU women’s basketball team begins its mission for an NSC title and a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

NIU will take on the Auckland Nationals tonight in a 7 p.m. exhibition game at Chick Evans Field House.

The Huskies start the 1989-90 campaign ranked 32nd in the nation and their boss, Coach Jane Albright, is thrilled about the preseason recognition.

“It’s a great honor to be ranked going into the season,” Albright said. “We’re excited about already being noticed.”

The reason Albright said “going into the season” is because the Huskies are not going to take the New Zealand team lightly. They view this exhibition game as the season opener and are pumped up, to say the least.

“I feel like tomorrow is Christmas,” Albright said. “I feel fresh and prepared. We’ve been waiting for this since March, when DePaul beat us.”

Albright is looking forward to how the team will respond and is using the game to see where the team is in terms of their half-court offense and defense, something they’ve been focusing on in practice.

“We’re ready to test and see if what we have been putting together is what we want,” Albright said. “I’m especially interested in getting a look at our defensive system in a competitive situation. It’s time to go against somebody other than ourselves.”

This first “somebody” is a 10-player team coached by the 1988 New Zealand Olympic coaching staff. This is the first time that the Auckland Nationals team has toured the United States. They have played eight games coming into tonight’s contest, coming up short against the likes of Purdue University, Kansas State University and the University of Nebraska. The Auckland squad is a big team, starting three players over the 6-0 mark, with more experience than most.

“They are a big, physical, inside team,” Albright said. “They are a good team with a lot more experience because they are older.”

NIU will have its share of experience on the floor, also. Albright is starting four returning starters from last season’s 23-7 team, plus Lisa Foss, a medical red-shirt returnee. All-America candidate Carol Owens and Tammy Hinchee, perhaps the best low-post tandem in the country, will start at center and forward, respectively. Denise Dove, the 1988-89 NIU Player of the Season and Coaches’ Award, will direct the offense at the point-guard position with Kris Weis and Foss rounding out the three-guard backcourt.

Albright said that these five will also be the starters for the official season opener, one week from tonight (Nov. 28) at the University of Minnesota, and will start for the season that she can’t wait to get started.

But that season will be difficult, because the Huskies face five teams in the Top 20, including the top-ranked team in the country, the University of Tennessee.

“They will be the starters (against Minnesota), unless something drastic happens,” Albright said. “This is the best schedule we have had since I’ve been at Northern Illinois. We are going to have a fun year—we just need to play.”