From UNI Athletics
DES MOINES, Iowa – UNI women’s basketball fell to the Drake Bulldogs, 96-79, Wednesday, Jan. 27 at the Knapp Center in Des Moines. Cynthia Wolf recorded a career-high 18 points, but the Panthers wouldn’t come within eight points of the MVC rivals.
The Bulldogs started strong with an 11-2 run against the Panthers. Wolf recorded five points in the first and the Panthers ended the first quarter eight points behind, 20-12.
The Panthers continued to fight but it was no match for Grace Berg who scored a career-high 21 points. Kierra Collier also recorded 17 points for the Bulldogs and went 3-4 from behind the arc for Drake.
UNI outscored Drake in the third quarter and the Panthers cut the lead to just 16 points, the closest it would be since the first quarter when they trailed by eight points. After battling back and forth for the duration of the game, the Bulldogs claimed the 17-point win over the Panthers.
Drake went 55.0% from behind the arc while the Panthers would only hit 26.7% of shots taken in three-point range. The Bulldogs went 76.5% from the free-throw line and the Panthers battled with 64.3% from the charity stripe.
Megan Maahs scored 12 points that moved her into the No. 24 spot on the All-Time Scoring list with 1,025 points. She also recorded five rebounds and claimed the No. 2 spot on the All-Time Rebounding list with a total of 791 rebounds.
UNI will not meet Drake again until Wednesday, Feb. 24, this time in Cedar Falls. The series between Drake and UNI is the only Missouri Valley Conference series to not be played on back-to-back nights.
UNI returns to the McLeod Center Feb. 4-5 at 6 p.m. to face the Evansville Aces for their next MVC contest. Evansville played Indiana St. on Jan. 27 and recorded their first conference win of the season in overtime. They are now 1-8 in conference play and 5-9 overall.
GAME NOTES:
– Cynthia Wolf scored a career-high 18 points.
– Megan Maahs is now No. 25 on the All-Time Scoring list (1,025 points) and No. 2 on the All-Time Rebounding list (791 rebounds).
– Karli Rucker is four points away from the No. 13 spot on the All-Time Scoring list with 1,249 points.
– Emerson Green recorded a career-high five steals.
– Maya McDermott went 50.0% from the three-point line.
