After losing its first exhibition game without starting point guard Stephanie Raymond, the NIU women’s basketball team will have one final tune-up before its regular season opener.

Raymond sat out the first game while she served a suspension for cutting class, and the Huskies struggled to take care of the ball without her against the Chicago Challengers.

“Obviously, the 32 turnovers was one of our problems,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said. “We are just going to have to try to minimize them this time.”

The Huskies will host NAIA school Saint Xavier at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center.

SXU won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament last season but lost in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament.

“They [SXU] do some really nice things. They played Illinois State and battled them,” Hammerle said. “They’ll definitely be a challenge for us, and we’ll need to become more consistent.”

The ISU starting front-court put up a combined 40 points against SXU in its 102-64 win Sunday.

NIU’s starting center Kristin Wiener posted a team-leading 19 points in its first game and got to the line often where she converted 13 of 14 attempts.

The Huskies shot only 39 percent from the field against the Chicago Challengers and 15 percent from beyond the arch.

Junior forward Jamie Wilson said the team needs to focus on defense and that having Raymond back will open up the offense.

“It was just an exhibition game, but it’ll be good to have her back,” Wilson said of Raymond. “Turnovers were a problem, and we need to take care of the ball and work on our defense.”