Teamwork is an important part of success in basketball, but the NIU women’s basketball team understands there is more to a successful season than just the X’s and O’s of the game.

Fan appreciation is the theme of Saturday’s 2 p.m. hardwood contest against Wisconsin-Green Bay (17-9, 10-3) at Chick Evans Field House. The game will be the last of the regular season for the Huskies (21-5, 12-1), and a win would make NIU the No. 1 seed in the North Star Conference Tournament.

“We want to give back something as far as showing the fans how much we appreciate them,” said NIU head coach Jane Albright, who has planned a post-game coffee and cake celebration for players and fans alike. “I want to get to know who is at the games. I’m going to send everybody something in the mail and I’m going to leave that as a surprise. It’ll be a little memento of the day and of the season.”

However, before the Huskies fire up the coffee pot and slice the cake, they have their work cut out for them.

Wisconsin-Green Bay plays the role of spoiler in the North Star Conference race. Basically a defensive team, the Phoenix have already upset second place DePaul 92-82 on Feb. 23, and gave the Huskies a good game up in Green Bay. However, NIU pulled out a 75-61 win.

“(UWGB) has a very hard work ethic,” Albright said. “They set a lot of screens offensively and really try to get you out of position and really wait for you to make a defensive mistake. Defensively they try to slow the ball down.

“They don’t have any one dominating player, but they’re very balanced and on any given night one of those kids could hurt you.”

Donna Gunville provides the fire power for the Phoenix with her 14.1 points per game and is assisted under the boards by 6-2 center Karen Kupper.

For the Huskies, Junior Tammy Hinchee (19 ppg) has been in the spotlight after being named NSC Player of the Week for the second time this season. Her 76 points, 35 rebounds, five assists, 16 blocks and five steals in a three-game span earned her the award.

As a team, NIU leads the conference in nine of the 15 major statistical categories. This includes an 88.5 scoring average (second in the nation to Long Beach State), 47.1 rebounding average and 20.3 assists average.

A victory over UWGB would give the Huskies a perfect 12-0 home record this season, and sole possession of the NSC regular-season title.