From UNI Athletics
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The women’s basketball team fell to the Bulldogs Wednesday night, 77-56, in the McLeod Center to finish out this MVC series against Drake.
The Panthers stuck with the Bulldogs for the first quarter and only trailed by one point as they entered the second quarter. Kayba Laube entered the game early on and scored two back-to-back threes that helped the Panthers stay tight on the Bulldogs.
The second quarter allowed for quick lead changes and counterpoints by both teams. UNI would go 4-10 from behind the arc, Kam Finley scoring one, Maya McDermott recording another and Laube tacking on two more.
Laube would end the night as the Panthers lead scorer with 14 points. Karli Rucker followed with 12 points and 5 assists.
In the final half of the game, Drake found the hoop and executed quick ball movement between the Panther players. Despite outscoring the Panthers in the third quarter, Rucker scored seven of UNI’s points in an attempt to close the Bulldog gap.
The Panthers recorded 11 fastbreak points and 17 points off of Drake turnovers. UNI would only shoot 25.4% from the field where the Bulldogs shot 49.2% and made 36 points in the paint.
Grace Berg has now led the Bulldogs in scoring for seven straight games. She recorded 18 points, six rebounds and two assists tonight. Maggie Bair recorded a game-high of 10 rebounds against the Panthers.
The Panthers will play the Evansville Aces Feb. 27-28 in the McLeod Center for the rescheduled MVC series due to COVID-19 among the Aces Tier-1 Personnel. Tip-off will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday. This will be the last MVC series played in the McLeod Center for the 2020-21 Women’s Basketball Season. The Saturday game will not be heard on the radio due to the football game being played at the same time; broadcast of the game Sunday begins at tip time, 1 p.m., on News/Talk 1540 KXEL.
