When the Western Illinois Westerwinds step onto the court of the Chick Evans Field House tonight at 7:00 p.m., the NIU women’s basketball team might want to keep the old fable of the “Tortoise and the Hare in mind.”

The Huskies’ will be the taller more dominant team in the WIU game. However, NIU head coach Jane Albright knows that her team had better not get caught napping against a Westerwind team that does not lack talent in the spirit department.

“(WIU) really gives a lot of effort,” Albright said. “They’re a scrappy team, and they play hard.”

One obstacle the Huskies are going to have to overcome besides a pestering WIU team will be the loss of Lisa Foss. The 5-foot-7 junior will sit out the remainder of the 1988-89 season as a medical redshirt. Albright and her staff made the decision to hold Foss back on Wednesday.

Foss suffered a knee injury in the last game of the 1987-88 season against Notre Dame. During the summer, Foss underwent surgery to repair a ligament. Since that time, Foss has been rehabilitating her knee and even started two games for NIU.

With the loss of Foss, Albright will fill the gap with Kris Weis. The 5-foot-7 Iowa native is no stranger to the court. Weis saw playing time in all 28 games last year and averaged 2.8 points per game.

Gena Stubbs will head the Huskie attack with her 25 points, three steals and two assists after one official game this season. Tammy Hinchee remains the enforcer under the boards with 17 total rebounds, and Carol Owens should break out of her shell after going cold in the first game against Old Dominion with 11 points and one assist.

The Westerwinds, coached by Kelly Hill, look to Lori Schrock to burn the net for WIU. After two games this season, Schrock is averaging 15 ppg., while Robbin Hasemann follows close behind with a 13.5 ppg. average. Gail Dlask stands six feet and leads the WIU squad with seven rebounds per game.

WIU was able to defeat Cleveland State 82-36 in its first game of the season but fell 71-60 to Ball State rounding out the Westerwind ledger to 1-1 coming into tonight’s game.