The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team takes on a future conference rival for the second time this season as the Huskies head to Fort Wayne, Ind. to take the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as well as locally on WDKB 94-9 FM.

NIU (2-7) heads east looking to get back in the win column after a 105-52 loss at #10 Iowa State last Sunday. Maria Serracanta (Sabadell, Spain/Mercer) and Teresa Mbemba (Benguela, Angola/Presbyterian) both led the Huskies with 16 points against the Cyclones. Serracanta was 7-for-10 from the field and made two threes in setting a new career-high in scoring. The senior guard tied two career-highs at Indiana State on Dec. 3 with six assists and nine rebounds.

Sophomore forward Juliana Haddad (Espoo, Finland/Eastern Florida State College) led NIU with a career-high five rebounds against the Cyclones. She is the eighth different Huskie to have at least five rebounds in a game. NIU has had at least one player with five rebounds in a game in each of the last six and in eight of the first nine games of the season.

Purdue Fort Wayne (7-4) is 3-0 to start Horizon League play after a 70-60 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday. The Mastodons shot 62.5 percent from the field in the first quarter to take a 24-17 lead. Alana Nelson led Purdue Fort Wayne with 20 points, going 4-for-9 from the three-point line. Nika Lokica added 16 points. Nelson leads the Horizon League in scoring at 16.7 points per game and is third with 2.18 three-pointers per game.

NIU has won the two previous meetings against Purdue Fort Wayne. The Huskies swept a home-and-home against the Mastodons in 2006 and 2007, winning the last matchup 77-57 in Fort Wayne on Jan. 30, 2007.

The Huskies open Mid-American Conference play on Saturday, Dec. 20 at Central Michigan. Tip-off at McGuirk Arena is at 12 p.m. CT.