In this the year in which the NIU women’s basketball team is expecting to reach new heights, the Huskies still might not do something they’ve never done before—win their own tournament.

While NIU has reached the championship game in four of its first five Fastbreak Fest invitationals, the Huskies have never wound up with the trophy. And though this year’s NIU squad is looking to challenge the 20-win plateau, the Huskies will be underdogs when the 6th Annual NIU/Contel Fastbreak Fest gets under way this weekend.

But as NIU coach Jane Albright quickly points out, NIU didn’t assume the underdog role because the oddsmakers are down on the Huskies. One good reason might be the 14th-ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack and coach Kay Yow, who recently gained national prominence by leading the U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball team to a gold medal.

“We’ve never won it (the tournament), and that’s an obvious goal, but we still want it to be a quality tournament,” Albright said. “If you’re going to play in a tournament, and if you’re going to win it, it’s got to mean something.”

And it will, if the Huskies can put together a pair of wins, that is.

Before NIU can worry about N.C. State, it must first get by opening-round opponent Butler, which the Huskies face in Saturday afternoon’s second contest. N.C. State and Atlantic 10 Conference representative Temple open the tourney Saturday at 2 p.m., while NIU and Butler follow at 4 p.m. The losers of Saturday’s contests play for the consolation title Sunday at 1 p.m., while the winners battle for the championship at 3 p.m.

“We’re really excited about it,” Albright said. “Our goal, of course, is to win it, but on paper, we really shouldn’t win it. Nobody is putting any pressure on us except ourselves.

“But we will have the home court advantage and be playing in front of our home crowd, so we know we’ve got a shot.”

The Huskies will have an even better shot of winning if they can slow the performance of N.C. State’s All-America candidate Andrea Stinson, who Albright calls “as good a sophomore as you’ll find anywhere.” Stinson has led the Wolfpack to a 1-1 start (and a second-place finish in University of Cincinnati Communiplex Hall of Fame Classic), scoring at an 18.0-points-per-game clip.

NIU’s first-round foe, Butler, enters with an 0-1 record (after a 60-53 loss to Toledo) but is in a similar position in the development of its program, as coach Paulette Stein starts four upperclassmen. Guard Angie Anderson (13 points vs. Toledo) leads the Bulldogs from the outside, while Beth Hoffmeister (6-3 center), Martha Kondalski (5-10 forward) and Shelley Roby (5-11 forward) have all proven they can score inside.

Temple, which owns a 2-0 record, will be the tourney’s smallest team, starting no player taller than 5-foot-11, but has three double figure scorers in forwards Kelly Lane (21.0 points-per-game) and Pam Balogh (15.0) and guard Karen Healey (14.0).