CHICAGO – The UIC women's basketball team (1-0) will hit the road for the first time in the 2018-19 campaign, taking on city rival Northwestern (2-0) on Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT inside Northwestern's brand new Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Starting Five

• Senior Brittany Byrd started the season with a bang, tallying 28 points in UIC's 75-65 victory over Valparaiso. Byrd matched her personal best in threes, sinking six triples for the Flames. The senior shot 8-of-12 overall and 6-of-10 from the free throw line and was one rebound shy of a double-double with nine. Byrd also had two assists, one block and one steal in 33 minutes of action. Her 28 points in the first week puts her at eighth in the nation.
• Tylah Lampley also had an impressive outing with a career-high 21 points and a personal-best 7-of-8 showing from the free-throw line. Lampley also tallied six rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the Flames opener.
• Taylor Toney was also in the double digits against the Crusaders, recording 11 points. Toney recorded the second-most rebounds on the squad with seven, three of which were offensive.
• Kiarra Thompson came off the bench and contributed a career-high six points and three rebounds for the Flames.
• All three newcomers: Christelle Nyauchi, Tatum McCall and Jasmine Gaines were in the starting five against Valpo, and all three contributed two points. McCall and Gaines also added a pair of assists apiece.

Last Time Out

• UIC kicked off the 2018-19 season with a 75-65 victory over former Horizon League-member Valparaiso on Wednesday (Nov. 7). The Flames outshot the Crusaders 50 percent to 40.8 percent. The Flames were also more efficient from the three-point line, making 47.1 percent of all threes compared to 30 percent of Valpo's.
• Trailing by a bucket at the half, the Flames outscored the Crusaders 28-13 in the third to take a commanding 53-40 lead heading into the final quarter.
• An 11-1 run for Valpo in the fourth quarter threatened the Flames' lead, but UIC regrouped and took six of the next eight to go up for good.

What's at Stake
With a win, UIC would:

• Start the season 2-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 season
• Win back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 16-18, 2017
• Win its first game against Northwestern since 2007

Northwestern News

• City-foe Northwestern has started its season 2-0, including a 57-55 win over Horizon League Champion Green Bay in its season opener.
• Lindsey Pulliam is averaging 15.0 points in the first two contests to lead the Wildcats, while Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah takes on the role of lead rebounder, averaging 15.5 rebounds thus far.
• The Wildcats have the second-highest free-throw percentage in the Big Ten, sinking 77.6 percent of their shots taken from the line. Northwestern is also the Big Ten runner-up in turnovers forced, forcing an average of 22.50 miscues on their opponents.

For additional game notes and a link to the live stats, please see the blue box above.