Panthers, Cougars Set For Sunday Exhibition at McLeod Center

Sunday, November 5

Cedar Falls, Iowa

4 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

Sioux Falls (S.D.) - Exhibition

Panthers, Cougars Set For Sunday Exhibition at McLeod Center

11/3/2017 10:13:00 AM | Women's Basketball

UNI GAME NOTES

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Northern Iowa welcomes Sioux Falls (S.D.) to the McLeod Center for exhibition tune-up on Sunday as the Panthers prepare for the 2017-18 women's basketball season.

The exhibition will tip off at 4 p.m. CT, with the game marking the final warm up for the Panthers before Friday's season opener at home against IUPUI at 7 p.m. CT.

HOW TO TUNE IN
The game against USF will be televised on ESPN3. Fans can go here to watch the broadcast.

LIVE STATS
Live stats for Sunday's exhibition will be made available via the UNI athletics website (www.UNIPanthers.com). Fans and media can visit @UNIWBB on Twitter for links to the feed.

TICKETS
Fans can purchase season and single-game tickets to UNI women's basketball home games through UNITIX. Call 319-273-4849 or visit www.UNITIX.uni.edu.

AUTOGRAPHS
Following the conclusion of Sunday's exhibition, members of the Panther women's basketball team will be signing autographs on the north end of the concourse.

NEED TO KNOW

UNI hosts Sioux Falls (S.D.) for a tune-up before the start of the 2017-18 regular season on Friday against IUPUI.
The Panthers are 8-2 in exhibition games under head coach Tanya Warren. UNI has won the last eight exhibitions overall.
Sunday's contest will mark the third time in the last four seasons that UNI has played an exhibition against Sioux Falls. The Panthers won the 2014 contest 61-50, while defeating the Cougars 82-66 in 2015.
Megan Maahs and Mikaela Morgan are UNI's lone returning starters on a roster that features one senior, four juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen.
Preseason All-MVC and 2017 Sixth Player of the Year Ellie Howell will step into the starter's role this season, with senior Kennedy Kirkpatrick also increasing her minutes for the Panthers at the point guard position.

ANOTHER 24-WIN SEASON IN THE BOOKS

UNI posted its third season with at least 24 wins or more after going 24-9 in 2016-17.
The Panthers have earned all three 24-plus winning seasons in the Coach Warren-era, with the first coming in 2010-11.
The back-to-back 24-win seasons is a first for the program.

WARREN MOVES INTO FIRST PLACE AT UNI

Head coach Tanya Warren became UNI's all-time wins leader following UNI's 65-64 win against Missouri State on March 4, 2017.
Warren passed former Panther coach Tony DiCecco who previously held the record with a 183-161 mark in his 12 seasons at UNI.
Warren enters 2017-18 with a 186-139 record.

SERIES WITH SIOUX FALLS

UNI and Sioux Falls have never met on the hardwood for a regular-season contest, with the two programs only playing exhibitions against one another.
The Panthers have won each of the last two exhibitions against the Cougars with ease, taking the first contest in 2014 by a score of 61-50 and the last exhibition in 2015 82-66.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS

Sioux Falls finished last season 22-8 overall and 15-7 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.
The Cougars came within a game of taking the league title, after advancing to the championship game before losing to Northern State, 55-52.
USF is led by sophomore Kaely Hummel, who averaged 8.0 points per contest while playing in all 30 games for the Cougars as a freshman.

EXHIBITION RECORD UNDER COACH WARREN

The Panthers are 8-2 in exhibition games under head coach Tanya Warren. UNI has won the last eight exhibitions overall.
Sunday's contest will mark the third time in the last four seasons that UNI has played an exhibition against Sioux Falls. The Panthers won the 2014 contest 61-50, while defeating the Cougars 82-66 in 2015.

DEFENDERS OF WARREN

UNI is 132-17 under the direction of head coach Tanya Warren when holding an opponent to 60 points or less.
Five of UNI's top-10 scoring defense averages in school history have come during the Warren era, while the Panthers ranked second in the Valley last season after holding opponents to 58.3 points per game.
UNI was 19-0 in 2016-17 when holding foes to 60 points or less.

ALL WE DO IS WIN

The 2016-17 season marked the eighth-straight season the Panthers have won at least 17 or more games.
The win total also marked the 15th season since the women's basketball program joined NCAA Division I basketball in 1982 that the Panthers have achieved at least 17 wins.
Tanya Warren now owns eight seasons with at least 17-plus wins or more in a season, which is more than all other coaches at UNI combined.

PRESEASON RECOGNITION

UNI was selected to finish third in the MVC before the start of the 2017-18 season.
The Panthers have been voted in the top-half of the MVC Preseason Poll in all but one of head coach Tanya Warren's seasons at UNI.
Redshirt junior Ellie Howell was selected to the Preseason All-MVC squad.

PANTHER CUBS

UNI welcomes five true freshmen to the roster this season, with one lone senior leading the pack in Kennedy Kirkpatrick.
Karli Rucker, Nicole Kroeger, Bre Gunnels, Riley Wheatcraft and Marissa Robson make up the five freshmen for UNI.
That total is the most since 2015-16's six true freshmen, that squad earned a 24-11 record while advancing to the third round of the WNIT.

RISING STAR

Sophomore Megan Maahs burst onto the scene last season, earning a spot on the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Freshman Team after averaging 7.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game as a true freshman.
Maahs was UNI's first MVC All-Freshman team member since Ellie Howell in 2014-15.

HOWELL HUSTLE

Redshirt junior Ellie Howell earned the Missouri Valley's Sixth Player of the Year award last season, after averaging 12.2 points and 22.5 minutes per game in 2016-17.
The honor for UNI is the second for the program and first since Angie Davison (2015).

SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on the UNI women's basketball program, follow the Panthers on Twitter at "@UNIWBB" and on Facebook at "UNI Women's Basketball."