From UNI Athletics
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The women’s basketball team lost a hard-fought battle to the Loyola Ramblers for the final game in the series by just two points. The Panthers would come back from a 13-point deficit and fell to the Ramblers 66-64 in overtime.
With 21 seconds left in the third quarter, Kayba Laube drained a three-pointer and Karli Rucker followed with a quick layup at the buzzer to cut the Rambler lead to six going into the final quarter of the game, 41-35.
Rucker nailed a three-pointer right away in the fourth quarter to cut the rambler lead, 44-40. With 4:59 left, Megan Maahs scored two three-pointers and Cynthia Wolf scored one giving the Panthers the 49-48 lead over Loyola.
Loyola countered with five points to reclaim the lead, 53-49, but Emerson Green scored six points in the last 1:27 on the game to tie the scores 55-55 and send the teams into overtime.
Green started overtime with a three-pointer and the Panthers found themselves in the lead again, 64-60, after Bre Gunnels and Maahs both went 2-2 from the charity stripe and Rucker hit a mid-range jumper with one minute remaining.
The Ramblers would close out overtime with a layup and a pair of free throws to claim the win 66-64. The Ramblers shot 46.0% from the field this afternoon against the Panthers as they shot 44.0%.
Allison Day led the Ramblers in both games of the series. She scored 16 points on Feb. 19 and 22 points this afternoon and also recorded nine rebounds.
Green, Maahs and Rucker all scored 13 points tonight and Nicole Kroeger scored 10 points and Rucker claimed the team-high nine assists.
The Panthers will remain at the McLeod Center for the next three games. UNI will play the Drake Bulldogs for the final game of the series on Feb. 24 at 6 p.m., with pregame on News/Talk 1540 KXEL at 5:45 p.m. The last time these teams met was in Des Moines, Iowa and the Bulldogs came out on top with the 79-96 win over the Panthers.
GAME NOTES:
– The overtime game against the Ramblers is the second game this season that the Panthers have played in overtime. The first against Wichita St. on Dec. 6, 2020, where the Panthers won 93-91.
– Megan Maahs records 815 career rebounds after grabbing four tonight and is now No. 19 on the All-Time Scoring List with 1,041 points.
– Karli Rucker advanced to No. 9 on the All-Time Scoring List with 1,298 points and recorded 19 assists in the series against Loyola.
– Nicole Kroeger and Kayba Laube have made three-pointers in the last five games the Panthers have played.
– The Panthers scored 11 points on fastbreaks and 19 points off turnovers.
