Predicting “the best is yet to come,” coach Jane Albright-Dieterle takes her top-seeded Northern Illinois women’s basketball team to Green Bay Thursday for the Mid-Continent Conference tournament. NIU (21-5) meets Eastern Illinois in the opener at 12:30 p.m. A victory would send the Huskies to the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday against the winner of the Valparaiso-Illinois-Chicago game. The finals are at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, with the winner getting an NCAA bid.
For the 22nd consecutive year, Northern is sending at least one wrestler to the NCAA tournament, and this year the Huskies have two representatives. T.C. Dantzler earned his fourth straight trip by finishing second at 158 pounds in Saturday’s West Regional. Dantzler (21-8) lost to top-seeded Jamie Byrne of Northern Iowa 9-6 in the final. Jim Kossakowski (23-7) lost the 167-pound title to Marquette’s Billy Kumprey 9-2, but secured his first berth to the NCAA meet, which is March 18-20 in Ames, Iowa.