Elizabeth Thomas, News Correspondent

The Northeastern men’s and women’s varsity teams are reporting back to campus throughout July, but the women’s basketball team is already hard at work.

The lady Huskies came back to campus early to begin conditioning in hopes of achieving their first winning record since the 2003-04 season, which they finished with a 15-14 record.

Based on the start to the offseason, senior guard and 2012 All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) third team selection Deanna Kerkhof said she has high expectations for this season.

“As a team we are a lot more focused already,” she said. “It’s still really early, but I think we have great freshmen who work really hard and I think we have very good upperclassmen with great leadership.”

The team’s five freshman recruits are already on campus as well and are taking classes for the Summer II term, which Kerkhof said will allow the team to start building a camaraderie early in the year.

“We’ve been able to spend a lot of time together, and it’s just nice when we aren’t as stressed over the summer,” the Wallaceburg, Ontario, native said. “Workouts are a little more spread out and not such as big of a time commitment. We can enjoy each other more.”

But the Huskies will not only be welcoming new freshmen to the team: New assistant coach Britt King will also make her debut in 2012. King, a former assistant coach at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, brings more than 25 years of playing and coaching experience with her to Northeastern.

“She is allowing us to all be better coaches and better players,” head coach Daynia LaForce said. “She is very instrumental to our success in helping the post players. It’s very important we have someone in that position since we have not in the past and she is going to make them all so much stronger.”

Kerkhof said King has already made a positive impact on the team after only being on campus for slightly more than a month.

“I definitely think [King is] very knowledgeable and has a lot to add to our team,” she said.

Despite finishing with an 8-22 record for the second consecutive year and missing the CAA Tournament in 2011-12, the Huskies had a strong finish to the season, winning four of their last five games. But Kerkhof is confident her squad can build and improve upon last year’s performance.

“Last year we struggled to have everybody on the same page and everybody show up. We really didn’t realize how good we were until the end of the season and I really don’t think that’s going to be a problem this year,” she said. “We know how successful we can be and we’ll definitely play to our potential the whole season, instead of waiting until the last five games of the season.”

The lady Huskies will start their season on the road against Eastern Michigan University on Nov. 10. Their first home game of the season will be Nov. 20 against crosstown rivals Boston University at Solomon Court.

“Our motto is ‘chasing 20’ because we know we can win 20 games this season,” LaForce said. “I have no doubt with our leadership and skill that this team can do it.”