For the NIU women’s basketball team, Saturday night’s 97-85 win over Illinois-Chicago was just another average night of work.

A crowd of 908 fans at Chick Evans Field House watched as the Huskies methodically took apart another North Star Conference foe. All five Huskie starters finished near their double-figure scoring averages, and leading scorer Carol Owens worked on her 24 points-per-game average, pacing NIU with 27 points. And the Huskies improved their 86 ppg team scoring average, as they surpassed the 90-point mark for the seventh time this season.

The win, NIU’s ninth-straight, moved the Huskies’ record to 13-3 on the season, and more importantly left them alone atop NSC standings with a 4-0 mark.

After the game, NIU coach Jane Albright praised her squad for not looking past the 2-11 (0-3 NSC) Flames, especially in the wake of her team’s thrilling 86-82 win over DePaul Thursday.

“I think this is a coach’s nightmare possibility after a game as intense against a team like DePaul,” Albright said. “But I think our team showed tonight that we just want to do what we have to to win every game.”

In the first half, NIU treated the crowd with a clinic on defensive help in the low post, as Owens, Tammy Hinchee and Tracy Mondek (who combined for 7 blocked shots) time and time again halted drive attempts by UIC guards.

In the second half, the Huskies had some fun, as they scored 20 of the half’s first 30 points and turned a 46-36 halftime advantage into a 66-46 lead with 13:19 left to play.

Owens did most of the damage in the second-half run, scoring eight points in less than five minutes. All told, the 6-foot-3 junior turned out her game-high point total on relatively few shots. Owens hit nine of 15 field goal tries, and canned nine-of-nine free throws to lead NIU to a brilliant 21-of-24 night at the line.

“Our free-throw shooting was exceptional,” Albright said. “Sometimes I think that’s where you lose your concentration in a game when you’re up by 20 points.”

In addition, NIU got 20 points from forward Tammy Hinchee, a pair of 13-point efforts from guards Denise Dove and Kris Weis, and 12 points from forward Gena Stubbs.

inchee, a junior, finished the night three points shy of the 1,000 career-point mark. Should Hinchee join the 1,000 point club when NIU hosts Valparaiso Thursday night—and her 17 ppg average tends to indicate she will—she will be only the eighth player in NIU history to do so.

Hinchee (9 rebounds), Owens (11 rebounds) and Mondek (6 points, 7 rebounds) played a large part in holding UIC’s front line to a combined 24 points. While UIC guards Jacquese Gilbert (23 points) and Robyn Frascati (22 points) combined for 45 points, only three other Flames scored more than four points.