The scoreboard operator should have his hands full this weekend as the New Mexico St. Aggies bring their high-wire act to Chick Evans Field House for a 2:05 p.m. Saturday matinee against the NIU women’s basketball team.

The Aggies (3-1) stroll into town averaging an astounding 79.8 points per game, compared to the Huskies’ (2-2) 60.3. The Aggies are shooting 39 percent from three-point land.

“We just need to get back on defense and not let them get good looks,” said NIU coach Carol Hammerle. “And when they get their shots off, we need to get a hand in their face.”

Sophomore forward Jennifer Youngblood stressed the Huskies’ need to not let the Aggies’ style of play get to them.

“We have to be strong,” said Youngblood, who earned all-tournament honors last weekend along with junior center Jessica Shattuck at the Mount McKinley Bank North Star Invitational in Alaska. “We have to be smart. We can’t get in a hurry and start panicking. We just have to control the tempo and be calm when they try to trap us and run on us.”

Stopping the Aggies will be no easy task, but if the Huskies can control freshman Ivana Stojkovic of Croatia, they’ll have gone a long way toward doing just that. Stojkovic is averaging nearly a double-double with 19.8 points per game and 9.8 rebounds.

“She’s a real inside-outside player,” said Hammerle of Stojkovic. “She can set up on the inside block or step out and shoot the jumper.”

Against Long Beach State at the North Star Invitational, Shattuck (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Youngblood (17 and 10) both registered double-doubles. Youngblood is the Huskies’ leading scorer at this early point in the season, averaging 14.8 points per game. Shattuck is at 9.5 PPG while junior guard Kristan Knake is at 8.5

The Huskies’ performance in Alaska continued a maddening early season pattern of the Huskies looking like the Chicago Bulls one night and world-beaters the next.

“We’ve got the yo-yo syndrome going on right now,” said Hammerle. “We need some consistency. Our inside game has been pretty consistent for the most part, but we need the same contributions from the perimeter.”