Success is something that Kristin Wiener became accustomed to in high school.

The sophomore forward led the Academy of Holy Angels to a league title her junior season, and lettered all four years in basketball as well as volleyball.

Wiener also helped her AAU club to the Minnesota state title in 2000, so it’s easy to see why this season has been a shock to her.

The NIU women’s basketball team is on a seven-game losing streak its longest since 1998 and has dropped nine of its last 10.

“We just need to keep our heads up and keep working hard,” Wiener said. “A lot of our losses were close, but we just need to get over the hump.”

The Huskies (6-17 overall, 3-9 MAC) will get their chance to break the losing streak at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ohio.

NIU coach Carol Hammerle said that she isn’t concerned about her players that are losing often for the first time in their career.

“It’s always good to recruit players from successful programs with winning attitudes,” Hammerle said. “We are still trying to figure out what it takes to win on this level.”

Wiener is averaging 11.5 points during the Huskies’ losing streak and said she thinks NIU’s inside game could be the key to more wins.

“I think the whole team needs to step up right now,” Wiener said. “We need to look for an inside-out attack to be our focus.”

The Bobcats (10-13, 6-6) have lost three of their last four and allow a MAC worst 78.1 points per game.

“Obviously defense isn’t a priority for them, but they are extremely athletic and focus on the full court press,” Hammerle said. “We will just have to try and attack inside with Kristin and Jamie [Wilson].”

Kristian Kirkpatrick leads Ohio in scoring with 11 points and is second in rebounding with 4.3 in only 23.9 minutes per game.

The Huskies are led by sophomore guard Stephanie Raymond at 15.1 points per game.