NIU women’s basketball coach Carol Hammerle said the team playing the best in the MAC right now is the Huskies’ next opponent – Eastern Michigan.

The Eagles (15-6 overall, 8-3 MAC) will travel to DeKalb for a 7 p.m. game Saturday at the Convocation Center as they try to extend the Huskies’ losing streak to five games. EMU also will try to extend its winning streak to six games, the longest streak the Eagles have had since the 1979-’80 season.

“Eastern is clearly playing the best basketball of anyone in the conference right now,” Hammerle said. “They went to Western Michigan and beat them in front of 5,000 people.”

Eastern Michigan trails WMU by one game in the MAC West. The Huskies (9-13, 4-6) sit in sixth place two weeks after having a chance to move into a tie for second place.

EMU ranks among the top three in the MAC in scoring margin, scoring defense, field-goal percentage, field-goal percentage defense, rebounding margin, blocked shots, assists and turnover margin.

Junior guard Ryan Coleman leads the Eagles in scoring at 13.3 points per game. Sophomore forward Nikki Knapp also is scoring in double digits with 12 ppg while averaging seven rpg.

“Ryan Coleman is a complete player,” Hammerle said. “She can penetrate and shoot the three. They are a very balanced team, though, with a lot of weapons.”

For NIU, forward Jennifer Youngblood will need to take more shots than the six she attempted in the loss to Akron, Hammerle said.

The Huskies have trailed in many games and have come back, which is something that Hammerle said she hopes her Huskies can do with the rest of their season.

“I believe they’re going to come back and be focused against Eastern Michigan,” Hammerle said. “We just need a win right now. We’ve played some tough teams, but I really believe that we can play with everybody. We just need to find consistency with taking care of the basketball.”