Getting their NIU OneCards swiped, a hoard of scantily-dressed NIU girls in high heels entered the Student Recreation Center on Monday night.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out these individuals weren’t there to break a sweat on the treadmills or sprint around the track.

Like the mass of observers, they were at the Rec to see the championship game of the highly competitive basketball intramural league.

The Assassin’z topping DRO, 42-27, was the culmination of a four-week-long league that started with three games in pool play, and ended in a single elimination bracketed tournament.

There were seven leagues playing games Monday through Thursday nights from 7 to 11 p.m.

This year’s Rec League featured everything from a referee being knocked to the floor by an angry player after a technical call to two teams battling with a large portion of NIU football players on each squad.

In the highly competitive finals, which drew the largest crowd of about 150 people, representatives from the NIU women’s basketball and football teams cheered on their representatives playing in the games.

On team DRO was All-MAC football player Randee Drew, a defensive back turned to a cat-quick point guard on the hardwood. On the Assassin’z team was women’s basketball student manager Kenny Hill.

“We’re here to support Kenny,” NIU guard Kristan Knake said. “It’s good the football players are playing too. I don’t think they can stay idle for too long. It’s good for their competitive nature.”

Drew had support from such Huskie football players as Brian Atkinson and Michael Turner.

“Randee’s the only one out there scoring for his team,” Turner said. “They need a big man.”

When asked if he’d thought about using his 223-pound frame to throw bodies around, he said it would take some LeBron James-style throwback jerseys to get him on a basketball court.

While Drew’s team was noticeably overmatched height-wise, Drew didn’t think his team was getting any help from the refs.

“They are 6-foot-2 on the average; we’re 5-foot-10, and we can’t get any calls,” he said at halftime.

A constant point of attention in most games, the refereeing was not revered by many.

“We get crap all the time,” sophomore referee Tim King said. “We’ve had a lot of new people this year, so there isn’t a whole lot of experience.”

In the referee’s defense, King pointed out that they are regular students, just as most of the players, and get paid $5.15 an hour, the minimum wage, with only three days of training.

While King has never been slammed to the ground, he said the worst that’s happened to him was being threatened by a 6-foot-7, 350-pound player.

“This big guy told one of his teammates that they better get me out of the gym before he takes me out,” King said.

Never a dull time at the Rec League.