DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's basketball team opens its 2018-19 season this Thursday night when it takes on the Yale Bulldogs at 6 p.m. at the NIU Convocation Center in the first round of the Preseason WNIT.
 
NIU faculty and staff can receive two free tickets to Thursday night's game with their NIU ID. It will also be 90s Night. The NIU Marching Band will also be on hand for the season opener.
 
The Huskies are coming off a 15-15 campaign last season, with a 7-11 record in the Mid-American Conference. NIU had one of the top offenses in the conference last year, finishing fourth in scoring at 77.5 points per game, third in field goal percentage at 43.5 percent, and second in both free throw percentage at 77 percent and three-point field goal percentage at 43.5 percent. The Huskies were picked to finish fourth in the MAC West in the 2018-19 MAC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll, and also earned a vote to win the MAC Tournament.
 
NIU returns 10 players from last season, including the MAC's leading scorer in senior Courtney Woods (Brisbane, Australia/St. Margaret's) who averaged 22.1 points per game. Woods was the only player in the MAC to average over 20 points per game and finished the year as 11^th in the nation in scoring on her way to First Team All-MAC honors.
 
Her 22.1 points per game was the third-highest single-season average in program history. She enters her senior season with 1,520 career points, needing 480 points to become the third Huskie to reach 2,000 career points. Woods is also 35 three-pointers away from becoming NIU's all-time leader in career three-pointers made. The senior earned a pair of accolades in the preseason. Woods was named to the Cheryl Miller Award watch list, which recognizes the top small forwards in NCAA Division I women's basketball. She was also named to the Preseason All-MAC West Team.
 
Thursday's game will be the first meeting between NIU and Yale. The Huskies are 1-1 all-time against the Ivy League, but have not faced a member of it since 1995. Yale opened its season Tuesday night with an 80-61 win over Colgate. Junior guard Roxy Barahman is the Bulldogs' leading returning scorer after averaging 13.5 points per game. She scored a career-high 25 points in Tuesday night's win. Yale finished fourth in the Ivy League last season, and was picked to finish there again in this season's Ivy League preseason poll. The Bulldogs won a school-record 19 games in the 2017-18 season, winning the WBI Championship. 
 
--NIU--