Women’s basketball (3-3) will go right back on the road looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season.

The Huskies split their two games in the Aggie Hotel Encanto Thanksgiving Classic in Las Cruces, N.M., this weekend. They will face off with the Illinois State Redbirds (1-4) at 7:05 p.m. today at the Redbird Arena in Normal.

The Huskies dropped the opener of the classic, 77-73, to host team New Mexico State (3-4) on Friday. The game featured a back-and-forth battle until the Huskie defense could not make stops late and was forced to play the foul game.

They rebounded with a 79-52 blowout win over Lamar (4-4) on Saturday. NIU regained its footing on defense and lit up the scoreboard on offense, paced by junior guard Amanda Corral’s career-high 25 points.

“We’ve got to be ready to play defense every game,” said head coach Kathi Bennett after the Lamar game. “If we were ready on the defensive end, we would have been 2-0 instead of 1-1. We’ve got a game coming up against Illinois State, and we’ve got to be ready to play defense.”

After giving up 69.7 points per game and scoring only 56.3 points per game through their first three games, the Huskies are now surrendering an average of only 66.3 points per game and averaging 64.8 points per game themselves. They are 3-0 when holding teams to 60 points or less.

“I do think we’re getting better each time out,” Bennett said. “I think they’ve been consistent in practice, and I think that’s where it starts. I think you have to have a consistent energy and get better there before you’re gonna start winning games. I’ve seen us be more consistent in practice, which I think is a big step for us.”

The Redbirds come into the matchup after splitting their tournament, the Junkanoo Jam, over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. They defeated Florida, 68-64, on Friday and then fell to Penn State, 72-60, on Saturday.

Illinois State’s scoring offense (60.8) is seventh out of 10 Missouri Valley Conference teams, and its scoring defense (70.6) ranks sixth in the conference. All four of the Redbirds’ losses were by 12-plus points.

The Redbirds are led offensively by Chloe Nelson, who is averaging 16.4 points per game (fifth in MVC) and Alexis Foley, who is averaging 13.6 points per game (11th in MVC). Nelson is also fifth in the MVC with 3.8 assists per game.

Bennett said the Redbirds are very similar to the Bradley Braves, who the Huskies beat, 63-60, on Nov. 21.

“They have a very good post presence,” Bennett said. “Their guards, all of them, can shoot the three and go off the dribble. … I know we’re going to have to defend a lot of double screens, a lot of ball screens out top — they run a lot of that action, so we need to be ready for that. [Defensively], they mix it up, they play man, they play zone, but they’ll get out and play you, so we’ll get tested with our ball-handling again. I think it’ll be a great matchup, I think they’re a good team, and it’ll be a great test for us.”