DeKALB | One Illinois team down, seven more to go.

The NIU women’s basketball team’s quest to be the best Illinois team starts Saturday as the Huskies take on Illinois State at the Convocation Center at 2 p.m.

Illinois State (2-0) is led by freshmen Ashleen Bracey, Maggie Krick and Kenyatta Shelton. The trio combined for 43 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Redbirds to a dominating 92-59 win over Northwest Missouri State.

“We need to come in and work hard,” Raymond said. “We need to improve from what we learned last game and come out strong.”

The Huskies are coming off an 88-67 win against St. Xavier last Monday.

Saturday’s game, unlike Monday’s, is no exhibition.

NIU head coach Carol Owens said if the Huskies want to win, the defense has to play better.

“We need to get better on our man-to-man on the ball defense,” Owens said. “I just think we have to be smarter defenders overall.”

Containing the offense is something the Huskies must do in this game. The Redbirds averaged 96.2 points their first two games.