If Jane Albright could have one post-Christmas wish, it might be to have a season of games as intense as Wednesday night’s first half.

NIU ran out to a 49-45 lead at halftime against DePaul, but the Huskies could not keep their grip in the second half as they gave up a 94-85 win to the North Star Conference leaders, now 4-0 in the NSC and 14-3 overall.

“I don’t know how you beat a team like that,” Albright said. “I don’t know that we could have played any harder.”

Although NIU shot almost 100 percent from the line, their 7-of-8 statistic was no threat to DePaul, who shot 32-of-41, including the NSC’s leading scorer and rebounder, Diana Vines, who dumped in 17-of-21 from the line.

“They’re a great free-throw shooting team,” Albright said. “When they were fouled, you might as well have put two in the book.”

Despite a boisterous and spirited cheering section which seemed to inspire aggressive first-half play by NIU, the Huskies could not keep an energetic Vines out of the air.

“Diana Vines is a great player—she’s relentless,” Albright said of the game-high scorer and rebounder who had 31 points and 24 rebounds. “She’s the quickest jumper I’ve ever seen.”

NIU dominated the first half from the tip. The aggressive Huskies were awarded for their first basket with a mini-New Years celebration of confetti and toilet paper from their fans from Stevenson Towers North.

The Huskies maintained a lead from the start, expanding up to nine points at one time.

Led by Lisa Foss, who contributed 16 of her game total 20 points in the opening 20, the Huskies were able to pace the Blue Demons for a majority of the half.

But a wild series of football-style passes by Northern initiated three turnovers, and DePaul surpassed NIU 35-33 with four minutes left in the half.

NIU came back and flooded the Blue Demons with a 10-point streak of shooting by Foss, plus a bucket apiece from Tammy Hinchee and Carol Owens, to leave the Huskies ahead at the half.

“The first half was one of the best halves we’ve played offensively and defensively,” Albright said.

DePaul controlled the start of the second half, using the exploding energy of guards Vines and Jackie Joiner (13 points). The Blue Demons forced NIU to play an inside game as they held Foss to four in the half.

NIU fought a back-and-forth battle, and was unable to come any closer than six points, until a pair of baskets by Gena Stubbs, and a hoop by Owens pulled the Huskies to 85-80 with 1:40 on the clock.

Stubbs fifth foul led to to six unanswered points by DePaul, and a string of intentional fouls by the Huskies led to the final score.

“We had better ball movement in the first half,” Foss said. “We beat ourselves with dumb errors and turnovers.”

In spite of the loss, Albright said she is proud of her team, and pleased with the crowd.

“There’s a start of something great here,” Albright said of the 820 fans in the gym. “The crowd really helped us out a lot. We’re building a program here, and that’s all we’ve been trying to do.”