After stumbling through its first major challenge of the year at Stanford, the Iowa State women’s basketball team faces another tough opponent tonight in the form of the Northwestern Wildcats.

The Cyclones fell to the Cardinal by a final score of 95-82 but bounced back to drub San Francisco 83-64 and climb a notch to 12th in the AP’s top 25.

The Wildcats are also eager to take out their frustrations after a tough loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee just over a week ago in Evanston.

Northwestern opened its season and coach June Olkowski’s NU career with a 68-57 victory over Northern Illinois before falling to the Panthers, 65-54.

Six-foot two-inch center Tami Sears has spearheaded the Wildcat attack throughout the exhibition and early regular seasons, collecting 16 points and eight rebounds per game.

Junior guard Dana Leonard has also been a force for Northwestern, recording 24 points so far in 1999, including several treys.

Guard Emily Butler and forwards Clarissa Flores and Leslie Dolland round out the starting Wildcat lineup and combine to average 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

The biggest spark off the Northwestern bench is 6 foot senior forward Leslie Schock, whose 17 rebounds in two games, leads the team.

So far in ’99, Northwestern has outrebounded its opponents by nearly seven boards per contest.

The most obvious Wildcat weakness so far comes at the charity stripe, where the team has knocked down just 21.9 percent of its free throw opportunities so this year.

In comparison, ISU has managed to convert 66.7 percent of its free throw opportunities so far.

Heading into the game, the Cyclones will be without starting forward Monica Huelman, who will miss only the second contest of her four-year career with knee pain.

Point guard Lindsey Wilson, who shed her redshirt when fellow freshman Erica Junod was sidelined with mono, will continue to contribute after a 13-point effort against the San Francisco Dons.