Women’s basketball looks to avoid its second three-game losing streak this season when it hosts the Kent State Golden Flashes at 7 p.m. today at the Convocation Center.

The Huskies (7-10, 3-4 MAC) enter the matchup on a two-game losing streak, as they suffered losses to Buffalo on Thursday and Bowling Green on Sunday.

The Golden Flashes (3-15, 0-7 MAC) come to DeKalb mired in a 10-game losing streak, seven of which were conference losses.

NIU is in the midst of an offensive rut during its two-game slide. The Huskies averaged 70.2 points per game in their first five conference games, but they averaged a mere 48 points per game in their last two MAC games.

The Huskies shot 28.3 percent (17-60) against Buffalo and 30.2 percent (19-63) against Bowling Green, which were their two worst performances from the field this season. Despite a better shooting percentage against Buffalo, they managed only 44 points, which tied a season low for offensive output; they managed only 44 against Green Bay in their season opener.

“We just have to do a better job of executing,” said head coach Kathi Bennett. “We took quick shots because I wanted them to be aggressive going to the rim, trying to draw fouls. But we didn’t really execute through anything.

“A lot of our shots were kind of one-on-one, contested shots, and I just feel we gotta swing the ball and execute through better than what we did.”

The defense has been another story, as it has put forth a stalwart effort. After allowing 61.8 points per game in its first five MAC matchups, NIU has held its last two conference opponents to 60 points per game.

Kent State comes to town with a 0-7 road record and the worst scoring offense in the MAC during conference play (52.1). Its scoring defense (73.3) isn’t much better, ranking eighth in the MAC during conference play.

The Golden Flashes rely on their disruptive defense, which helps generate some of their offense. During MAC play, they rank third in blocked shots per game (3.1) and fourth in steals per game (9.1).

“They’ll get out in the passing lanes,” Bennett said. “… We’re really going to have to be efficiently offensively. Their strength is their half-court defense, and then they offensive board like crazy. We have to combat that and really be ready to take care of the ball and execute our offense because they’re definitely, defensively, a good team.”

In conference play, Kent State redshirt junior center CiCi Shannon leads the MAC with 2.4 blocks per game.

Junior guard Mikell Chinn ranks third with 2.6 steals per game and eighth with 3.7 assists per game.

Senior guard Amber Dunlap leads the team with 11.3 points per game and a .333 shooting clip from beyond the arc.

“I think this game is really big just to get our confidence back and get back on track,” said redshirt junior guard Danny Pulliam. “Also, just to set a tone that even though we lost those last two games, we can still come back and win big games. So, this is really big for us.”