Wins haven’t been easy to come by for the NIU women’s basketball team as of late, and coach Carol Hammerle said a win at Central Michigan is a necessity.

The Huskies (5-8 overall, 0-2 MAC) will travel to Mount Pleasant for a 6 p.m. tipoff with Central Michigan (4-9, 0-2), with the loser falling into the basement of the MAC west division.

“I certainly think confidence-wise, we need to win at least 50 percent of our road games,” Hammerle said. “If we lose this game, we’re 0-3 and at the bottom of the division, so we need to get this game.”

The Huskies are 2-5 on the road this season.

In two conference games this season, the Huskies have allowed their opponents an average of 30.5 free-throw attempts per game. The Huskies are only getting 12 attempts at the line per contest.

Offensive rebounding is also an issue Hammerle is trying to fix. Opponents have averaged 16 offensive boards per game in conference.

“Our focus for Central is definitely going to be that we can’t give them 30 free throws,” Hammerle said. “We have to make them shoot the ball.”

Combined, the two teams have only three players averaging double figures in scoring.

The Huskies are 10th in the MAC in scoring, while CMU follows right behind at 11th in the league.

One bright spot for NIU is senior forward Jennifer Youngblood, who is third in the MAC in rebounding with 10.3 a game.

“It’s always tough to win when you go on the road,” Hammerle said. “I feel we’re doing a lot of good things, but we need to fix how we start games. We are falling behind early and having to battle back; we can’t do that against Central.”