The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team opens a three-game homestand Wednesday night when it hosts the Ball State Cardinals at 6 p.m. at the NIU Convocation Center for National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ along with 94-9 WDKB, the Varsity Network app and the NIU Huskies app.

Prior to Wednesday night’s game, there will be both a pregame youth sports clinic for girls ages 6-12 and a panel discussion featuring former NIU athletic director Cary Groth, ESPN SportsCenter host Nicole Briscoe and Dr. Tonya Davis as they talk about female empowerment and their success stories in and out of athletics. Both events are free to attend and take place from 5-5:45 p.m. Log on to NIUHuskies.com to register today. Registered participants will receive free admission to the basketball game.

NIU returns to the Convocation Center after a loss at Bowling Green on Jan. 31 to wrap up the first half of the Mid-American Conference schedule. Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) led the Huskies with 15 points and added six rebounds. She has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games, averaging 13.9 points and nine rebounds per game in that stretch.

Jayden Marable (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) had 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds at Bowling Green. Both Marable and Stonebraker lead NIU in scoring this season at 11.4 points per game. Marable is fifth in the MAC in assists at 4.3 per game while Stonebraker is fourth in rebounding at 8.1 per game.

The Huskies are 6-3 at the Convocation Center this season. NIU is averaging 67.7 points per game on the home floor and winning by an average of 10.9 points per game. The Huskies have held each opponent that has come to DeKalb under 70 points this season, with five opponents under 65 points. That will be put to the test as Ball State leads the MAC in scoring offense at 74.8 points per game.

Ball State (20-2, 10-0 MAC) comes to the Convocation Center riding a 14-game winning streak after a 97-66 win over Ohio last Saturday. The Cardinals shot 55 percent from the field and made 13 three-pointers. Ball State also scored 42 points off 23 Ohio turnovers. Ally Becki leads the Cardinals in scoring with 14.1 points per game. Madelyn Bischoff averages 13.0 points per game while shooting 45.3 percent from the three-point line.

NIU and Ball State have split each of the last 10 regular season meetings dating back to the 2018-19 season. The Huskies won the last meeting between the two sides 84-77 at the Convocation Center on Feb. 18, 2023.

The homestand continues on Saturday, Feb. 10 when NIU hosts Georgia Southern at 1 p.m. in the second round of the MAC-SBC Challenge. The Huskie Basketball 2024 pack is available for Saturday’s game. This ticket deal includes four lower bowl tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and four chips for just $40. Go to niuhuskies.com/2024PACK and enter the promo code 2024 PACK. It is also the final Scholarship Saturday game of the season. If the attendance threshold of 150 students is met, one lucky student will be randomly selected to win a $1,500 scholarship. The student must be in attendance when the winner is selected in the fourth quarter.