University of Northern Iowa
North Dakota State
Women's Basketball Drops Opener to NDSU, 64-62
11/13/2009 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2009
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The University of Northern Iowa dropped a 64-62 contest to North Dakota State in its season opener Friday night in the McLeod Center.
Senior forward Kim Wypiszynski led the Panthers (0-1) with 21 points, and Nicole Clausen was 3-of-5 from three-point range to score 13 points for UNI. K.K. Armstrong finished with seven assists. Erin Brocka finished with five rebounds and four steals for the Panthers.
Abby Plucker led the Bison (1-0) with 20 points, and Ashley Samuelson added 15 points and seven rebounds.
UNI would lead by as many as six points in the first half. Kalin hit a pair of free throws with one second on the clock to give the Panthers a 32-29 lead going into the half.
A jumper by Plucker gave NDSU a 35-34 lead with 18:22 to play. Clausen put the Panthers back in front when she knocked down a three at 18:06. Katie Birkel scored to bring the score to 37-37, the first of 10 ties in the second half.
Wypiszynski hit a pair of free throws at 16:12 to give the Panthers a 43-41 lead. NDSU responded with a 7-0 run that gave the Bison their largest lead of the game, 48-43 with 14:09 on the clock.
Kalin scored five straight points to tie the game at 48 with 12 minutes to play.
The teams stayed within a pair of points of each other, and a free throw from Janae Burich gave the Bison a 53-52 lead with 5:51 remaining. Wypiszynski knocked down a three from the top of the key to put the Panthers back in front, 55-53 with 5:24 remaining. A Birkel free throw cut the Panther lead in half, but Wypiszynski scored on a layup to extend the Panther lead to 57-54.
Samuelson converted a layup and free-throw to tie the game, 57-57 with 3:18 remaining. Wypiszynski put the Panthers back in the lead when she scored on a jump shot with 3:05 left, but Plucker made a layup on the ensuing possession to tie the game for the ninth time in the second half.
Samuelson scored on a jumper with 1:31 left to put the Bison in front, 61-59.
Wypiszynski scored on the block as she was fouled. The free throw gave the Panthers a 62-61 edge with just 1:12 on the clock.
Birkel knocked down a mid-range jumper with 46 seconds remaining to give the one-point lead to NDSU, 63-62.
A layup attempt by Brocka would not fall, and Samuelson gathered the rebound with 20 seconds left. UNI elected to send her to the line, and she missed the front end of the one-and-one. Armstrong grabbed the rebound for the Panthers, giving UNI the ball with 17 seconds left.
Kalin's jumper from the elbow went off the rim, and freshman Amber Kirschbaum grabbed the offensive rebound with 4.7 seconds left. Birkel came up with a steal on the inbounds pass, however, sealing the win for NDSU.
The Panthers shot 24-of-56 (42.9 percent) from the floor, including 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from behind the arc. UNI made all seven of its free-throw attempts.
NDSU finished 23-of-50 (46.0 percent) from the floor, including 2-of-8 (25 percent) from three-point range. The Bison were 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Panthers return to action on Sunday when they play at Missouri at 5 p.m.
