DeKALB | Free cash, food, T-shirts and money for school books.

What more could a college student ask for?

At 7 p.m. Friday on Victor E. Court, Huskie Hoopla will mark the start for the NIU men’s and women’s basketball teams this season.

The first 100 fans will receive free pizza and soda and NIU’s new student section, “Red Riot,” will be distributing T-shirts for the upcoming season.

Tickets for NIU football’s Oct. 28 game at Iowa will be raffled off and fans will have a chance to meet players from each basketball team.

TCF’s Dash for Cash, “Shoot for Books” and the finals of the three-point shootout played at the Campus Recreation Center Monday through Wednesday will take place as well.

The night will end with the women’s team displaying their skills through drills and contests before the men’s basketball team takes the floor for a 15-minute scrimmage.

Still not there

So far this season, the NIU men’s golf team has not finished higher than 7th in any of its tournaments.

This past Tuesday, the Huskies continued their slide, finishing 12th place at the Earl Yestingsmeier Invite.

NIU junior Zach Jecklin tied for seventh overall with a score of 210 (71-70-69).

Despite the team’s performance over the past several weeks, NIU coach John Cleary said his team is still learning.

“We have some young people and some that are back from injuries,” Cleary said. “It’s going to take some time. I hoped we would do better, but it didn’t turn out that way.”

The Huskies’ next invite will be in Orlando, Fla. for the Big East/MAC challenge on Nov. 4th and 5th.

Rough ending

After finishing in the top-two three weeks in a row, the streak for the NIU women’s golf team ended at the Shootout at the Legends this past Tuesday.

The Huskies carded a 920 to finish 12th at the tournament.

Sophomore Nicci Schultz led the team with a three-round score of 226 (74-75-77) to tie for 22nd place overall.

“It’s definitely the best field we’ll see all fall and maybe all year,” NIU head coach Pam Tyska said. “The competition was excellent and I’m so proud of them for doing so well.”

The team’s next tournament will be February 11, 2007 in Baja, Mexico.

Lacy Searcy is a Sports Reporter for the Northern Star.