For the fourth game in a row, the NIU women’s basketball team will play on the road.

After opening up with a 49-47 last-second win over Wisconsin, the Huskies are 1-2 on their current road trip that concludes tonight at 7 p.m. at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Panthers are currently 1-3 on the season but have won the last four meetings with the Huskies, including a 60-52 win at Chick Evans Field House last season.

UW-Milwaukee is led by junior center Maria Viall.

Viall is averaging 19 points and seven rebounds this season and has only one game where she didn’t score at least 20 points.

“We are going to collapse on her when she gets the ball,” coach Carol Hammerle said. “We may adjust a little depending on what they do, but Jen [Youngblood] is going to have her and she does an outstanding job with post defense.”

UWM also has gotten a strong performance this season from guard Jessica Wilhite. The only senior starter on the Panthers was named the Horizon League Player of the Week last week. She averaged 16 points, six assists and five rebounds during the week.

NIU enters the contest 2-2 but have been plagued by turnovers and inconsistency all year.

“Overall I think we are doing OK,” Hammerle said. “We need to be more consistent. We’re pretty inconsistent right now, and we need to take care of the ball better.”

The Huskies have been aided this season by balanced scoring. Youngblood leads the way at 14 points per game followed by Stephanie Smith (11.5), Kristan Knake (11.3) and Kim Boeding (10.3).

Youngblood was named to the all-tournament team in last week’s Gran Tree Inn Classic as she collected 31 points and 14 rebounds in two games.

Today’s game at Milwaukee will be the last road game before the Huskies return home on Dec. 7 to take on Illinois State.