Outside the office of Jane Albright, Northern Illinois women`s basketball coach, hangs a large banner exalting the Huskies to defeat Purdue. It was created last March for a second-round game in the NCAA tournament, a game the Huskies lost.
”It`s just a reminder that this is where we want to go again-but a step further,” Albright said.
The team that ended its best season (26-5) with a five-point defeat in West Lafayette, Ind., last spring lost more than a tournament game. It was also the last games for three starters-two of them members of at least one regional All-America team. That`s 53 points and 25 rebounds per game.
”There are a lot of new faces, but these people are not wanting anything to slip,” Albright said. ”While we give up experience, there`s something to be said about newness.
”We gave everyone little bumblebees at the beginning of the season because bumblebees are not supposed to fly. Their wings are too small to carry their big bodies, but they don`t know that and they keep flying. We lost 60 percent of our offense, but the team really doesn`t know it. They think we`re supposed to be flying.”
The new ”Flight of the Bumblebee” took off last weekend as NIU captured the University of Central Florida Thanksgiving tournament in Orlando, defeating South Alabama by four points and Central Florida by 38. ”We couldn`t have been any better,” Albright said.
The Huskies were led by Lake Zurich`s Lisa Foss, a 5-foot-7-inch senior guard and two-time team scoring leader who, Albright feels, is slighted nationally. ”I`ve seen the game a long time, and I think she`s the best shooter in the game, period,” Albright said. ”She`s a legitimate All-American in every sense of the word.”
Joining Foss in the backcourt is Denise Dove, a 5-4 senior point guard who will be the Huskies` most dangerous three-point threat, backup guard Toby Meeks from East Aurora and guard/forward DeeDee Jeske.
Albright was counting on Soyini Chism, a 6-foot freshman center from Lindblom, to fill some of the void left by all-time scoring leader Carol Owens and leading rebounder Tammy Hinchee. But Chism injured her knee last week and probably will miss the season.
That leaves 6-1 junior Tracy Mondek, formerly of Hinsdale South; Angela Lockett, a 6-foot freshman; Dianna Wingis, a 6-1 sophomore forward, and Tiana Burkholder, a 6-1 sophomore forward, to pick up the slack inside.
Cindy Connor, a 6-1 freshman from Whitney Young who will swing between guard and forward, was a pleasant surprise in Orlando, where she made the all- tournament team, going 8 for 12 from the field and 4 for 4 from the foul line with 11 rebounds in the Huskies` second game.
E.C. Hill, a 5-7 freshman guard from Whitney Young who was considered the top guard prospect in the nation a year ago, is a Proposition 48 casualty and ineligible to play this season.
”This could probably get me in trouble, but we have the same goals as last year,” Albright said. ”We felt we should have gone to the Sweet 16 last year, and not a day goes by that they they don`t think of that loss (at Purdue).”
The Huskies, who drew 1,100 fans to an exhibition game this preseason, are slight favorites to win the North Star Conference, with De Paul and Wisconsin-Green Bay the leading contenders to challenge for the title. ”We certainly have a big challenge ahead of us,” Albright said. ”But we`re very much convinced we want to get better.”
