The NIU women’s basketball team will follow the men into the season during the Midnight Madness. Or should we say precede the men.

The women will play the first 12-minute scrimmage Friday night, followed by the men’s scrimmage. Then, the men will hold their first practice of the season at 9 a.m Saturday, followed by the women’s first practice at 12:30 p.m.

Coach Jane Albright, starting her fourth year as head coach, and her team are ready for the first practice.

“We’re planning on working basically on the fundamentals; teaching the freshmen how to practice,” Albright said.

There will be two new faces at the practice, those belonging to freshmen Dee Dee Jeske and Tracy Mondek.

“I’m just looking to play hard and get a spot on the team,” Jeske said. “Yes, I’m a bit intimidated, mainly because I’ve always played forward and now I’m switching to guard. I really want to start sometime this season.”

“What we really have to stress is our defensive conversion,” Albright said. “Last year our fastbreak offense was real good, but we had a hard time making the transition to stop the fastbreak. That is one thing we’ll be stressing early.”

One big question mark in the Huskie lineup is the availability of Lisa Foss.

“We’ll have to see how she is when the time comes,” Albright said. “She’ll be there Saturday, but she won’t be in any heavy drills. She’s still on rehab, but we have some time before the first game.”

The schedule for the Huskies begins with a exhibition game on Nov. 18 against the Belgium National Team at Chick Evans Fieldhouse. The regular-season schedule will open on Nov. 26 at Old Dominion.

Junior Toby Meeks won’t be fully practicing, due to an injury to her knee, but is looking forward to the season a lot.

“I think we’re all looking forward to it (the season),” Meeks said. “I should be back in two weeks—one week, thinking optimistically.

“We have real smart freshmen coming in this year. They listen well and learn fast. They should be able to contribute early. The first week is mainly learning, but the freshmen have a real grasp of the game, so we should be able to move faster.”

Meeks, a 5-foot-7 guard, said that everyone on the team has pretty much the same goal during the next four weeks of practice.

“We all want to win twenty games,” Meeks said. “For myself, I want to play 100 percent for the whole year, and I’ll be happy.”

Last year’s Huskie team finished 14-14, 6-4 in the North Star Conference. Foss led the team in points, minutes, games started, and steals. She was second in assists, and set four individual season highs, including a tie of a school record with 15 field goals in the second game against Valparaiso.

The team also set two school records with 49 field goals against Illinois-Chicago and 29 assists in the second game against Valparaiso.

NIU outscored its opponents 2266-2165 during the season, and narrowly outrebounded them 1114-1106. Last year’s top rebounder was Tammy Hinchee, who had 245, an average of 8.8 ppg.