Panthers Fall 61-46 at Northern Illinois

Friday, December 21

Dekalb, Ill.

7:00 PM

University of Northern Iowa

Northern Illinois

Panthers Fall 61-46 at Northern Illinois

12/21/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: UNI Athletics Communications

Dec. 21, 2007

Box Score

DeKalb, Ill. -- Cold shooting doomed the University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team in a 61-46 loss at Northern Illinois on Friday. The Panthers shot a season-low 23.5 percent (12-of-5) from the floor, while the Huskies connected on 50 percent (19-of-38) of their attempts.

Traci Ollendieck finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Northern Illinois (4-7) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. Alexa Mennen knocked down a three at 16:26 to put the Panthers (4-6) on the board and cut the NIU lead to 5-3. The Huskies went on to score the next five points, building a 10-3 lead with 13 minutes on the clock.

Nicole Clausen each connected on a pair of free throws to pull the Panthers within three, 10-7. A basket from Whitney Lowe stretched the NIU lead back to five, 12-7, but Lizzie Boeck connected on the block and Kalin scored on a coast-to-coast layup to pull UNI within one, 12-11 with 10:45 remaining in the half.

At 9:27, Kalin knocked down a pair of free throws to give UNI its first lead of the game, 13-12.

The teams traded baskets and one-point leads until NIU used baskets from Jessie Wilcox and Shari' Welton on back-to-back possessions and a pair of free throws from Mauvolyene Adams to go on a 6-0 run and build a 20-15 lead with 4:18 on the clock.

Traci Ollendieck grabbed an offensive rebound, and the putback cut UNI's deficit to 20-17.

Wilcox hit a pair of free throws, and Tara Michels connected from three-point range on the right wing to stretch NIU's lead to 25-17 with 2:21 remaining in the half. That would go on to be the halftime score.

Danielle Wubbens scored on the Panthers' first possession of the second half to pull UNI within six, but Wilcox hit a three from the left baseline to give NIU a 28-19 lead with 19 minutes to play.

Leading 29-21, Wilcox knocked down a jumper to give the Huskies their first 10-point lead of the game. Kalin found Boeck under the basket for two to cut the Panthers' deficit to single digits, but Becky Smith scored from in the paint to keep the NIU lead at 10.

After a pair of free throws from Kylie York gave NIU a 12-point lead, Ollendieck connected from behind the arc to pull UNI within nine, 35-26 with 13:51 to play.

The Huskies scored the game's next five points to build a 40-26 lead with 10:21 remaining.

The Panthers responded with baskets from Wubbens and Ollendieck on consecutive trips that trimmed the NIU to 40-30 with 9:28 to play.

The Huskies put together a 6-0 run over the next two minutes to stretch their lead to 46-30.

UNI eventually closed the gap to 13 but could not get any closer on the way to the loss.

The Panthers return to action on Dec. 29 as they wrap up their five-game road swing with a game at South Dakota State.