Coming off an emotional win Wednesday night against Ball State, the NIU women’s basketball team looks to continue its conference success Saturday at Western Michigan.

The Huskies (13-14 overall, 9-5 Mid-American Conference) and Broncos will face each other for the second time in six days.

NIU won the first encounter 75-65. Jennifer Youngblood had a career-high 26 points in the win, and will need to play that well in the post for the Huskies to come away victorious again. In Monday’s win, NIU played without team captain Kristan Knake, but the returning sophomore’s offensive and defensive efforts should provide a big boost this time against the Broncos.

The Huskies have clinched at least a first-round home game in the MAC tournament, and still have a legitimate shot at a first-round bye and automatically going to the conference’s elite eight in Cleveland. However, the Huskies will need to win their next two games against Western and Central Michigan, and Eastern Michigan must lose at least one more game.

“Western Michigan on their court is going to be anything but easy,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said. “I think we got our work cut out for us.”