The women’s basketball team began the season on a sour note as the Huskies dropped a pair in Hawaii to take fourth place in the Paradise Classic.

The highlight of the trip was a milestone accomplishment for E.C. Hill, who became just the 11th player in NIU history to pass the 1,000-point career mark.

The Huskies faced Loyola-Marymount in the opening round of the tournament Friday night, but fell short 68-60.

The reason for the loss was poor shooting percentage. The women scored just 26.4 percent of their shots from the field and just 46.2 percent of their shots from the free-throw line.

USE THIS FOR PULL QUOTE “We played extremely hard, but you can’t shoot 25 percent and expect to win,” said head coach Jane Albright-Dieterle. “We got the shots we wanted, we just couldn’t put them in.”

Senior Tracy Williams was able to shoot the best. She put in a team high 16 points for the Huskies on 6-of-11 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. Hill was able to add 11 points in the losing effort.

Caryn Alexander patrolled the boards for the Huskies with a game high 17 rebounds and also added eight points.

Albright-Dieterle was also pleased with the play of freshman Olivia Heitter who finished with six points on 2-of-5 from three-point range.

“Olivia and Tracy were two bright spots near the end for us,” commented Albright-Dieterle on their contributions to bringing the Huskies within three, 61-58, in the last few minutes.

In the battle for third place against the University of Oregon, poor shooting again brought about another loss as the women dropped to 0-2 after a 73-64 defeat.

The Huskies took a quick 8-0 lead, but by halftime it was the Ducks who had the advantage with a 39-37 lead. From that point on, the Huskies could not regain the advantage.

Hill paced the team with a game high 28 points. She made ten of her 16 shots from the field including 5-of-10 from long distance.

With her 28 points, Hill now has 1,018 points in 64 games. Her career points per game average is at 15.9. Her hustle and two-game total of 39 points made her the only Huskie to win a spot on the Paradise Classic All-Tournament team.

The Huskies as a team shot just 35.3 percent from the field and just 55.6 percent from the charity line. Hill was the only player to reach double digits for the Huskies, although Williams and Charmonique Stallworth contributed eight points a piece.

“E.C. had a phenomenal performance in a losing effort,” said Albright-Dieterle. “She was what we needed her to be.”

Another bright spot for the Huskies was Angela Lockett. Lockett reclaimed her spot under the hoop as she led the team with 10 rebounds. She also added seven points in the loss.

“She (Lockett) didn’t score the points, but she played as hard as I’ve ever seen her play,” commented Albright-Dieterle.

This marks the first time an Albright-Dieterle squad has started the season 0-2 since the 1986-87 season.

Hawaii won the tournament with a 81-76 victory over Loyola-Marymount. They also had three players make the All-Tournament team: Melanie Azama, Jenny Kaeo and Kaui Wakita. Sheri Brown of LMU and Jessica Schutt of Oregon also made the team.

“We played extremely hard, but you can’t shoot 25 percent and expect to win, we got the shots we wanted, we just couldn’t put them in.”

Jane Albright-Dieterle

head coach