DeKALB | While there’s no place like home, the Huskies will have to overcome their homesickness.

The NIU women’s basketball team will open up its second longest road trip of the season when it heads to Ohio for a 6 p.m. match Tuesday. The game is on the front end of a three-game road trip for the Huskies.

NIU (12-5, 4-2), sitting third in the MAC West, has struggled on the road this season. The Huskies are 4-4 when playing away from the Convocation Center, where they are 7-1.

They should have a golden opportunity to improve upon that underwhelming road record as the Bobcats (9-9, 2-4), who started the season 5-0, have lost 9 of their last 13 games.

“This is the first time that I personally have gone to Ohio University,” said NIU coach Carol Owens. “We’re looking forward to being on the road.”

The Bobcats are led by Syracuse transfer Lauren Kohn and sophomore Rachel Frederick.

Kohn, a junior, is averaging nearly 16 points a game, while Frederick has been filling up the box score by averaging almost 14 points per game. She is also pulling down over eight rebounds per contest.

“We have to, of course, play good defense and rebound,” Owens said. “We have to get to the free throw line, where we’ve been very successful.”

NIU’s rebounding has been inconsistent this season, and the Huskies will face a tough rebounding team in Ohio. While they may not have the tallest roster, the Bobcats are a very good rebounding team and rank second in the MAC with 40 boards a game.

NIU guard Stephanie Raymond is coming off one of her best games of the season, a 26-point performance on 9-13 shooting in a victory over Akron Saturday.