Women’s Basketball team will have an opportunity to make an immediate impact in its season opener against St. Francis on Saturday.

The game will mark the debut of head coach Lisa Carlsen, who joins NIU after eight seasons at Lewis University where she took the team to four NCAA Tournament appearances and ended with a record of 148 wins and 89 losses. The Huskies have not had a record over .500 since the 2008-09 season when they went 15-15.

NIU isn’t very familiar with St. Francis, but Carlsen went up against them many times in her tenure at Lewis, defeating them 91-65 last season. St. Francis had a record of 17-15 in the 2014-15 season, an improvement from the 8-23 year it had in 2013.

“We’re always going to try and play inside out and in the open court,” Carlsen said. “St. Francis loves to play up and down in transition games, so that will be a good matchup for us.”

Sophomore forward Kelly Smith said she intends to deliver leadership to the younger players by assuring them they can make a difference despite their age.

“I just want to reassure them with confidence,” Smith said. “Even though they’re freshmen, they can still make a huge impact on the team. They’re doing great, and a couple of them even have starting positions on the team.”

Smith also said she wants to make her personal performance better by improving her left-hand ball-handling skills and by being more of a presence down low.

The season opener will tip off at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center.