NIU women’s basketball leans on returners as Jacey Brooks starts Year 2

In the era of mass transfers, Jacey Brooks is building the NIU women’s basketball program about as close to the old-fashioned way as possible.The Huskies have six players back this year and four true freshmen on the roster. There are still impact transfers coming in, but every player who played 20 games or more last year is back or was a senior last year.With leading scorer Nevaeh Wingate back and Mid-American Conference All-Freshman Team selection Emilie Sorensen joining her, Brooks said the team is looking to move past the 7-23 showing last year when the season tips off at 6 p.m. Monday against Indiana State at the Convocation Center in DeKalb.“Some of our wins didn’t always show up in our record,” Brooks said. “But we continued to believe, we continued to trust the process. So now going into Year 2, now that those standards have been established, we were able to maintain a core group of players coming back.”The Huskies will leave the MAC for the Horizon League this year and try to s