University of Northern Iowa
Wichita State
Panthers Drop MVC Opener at Wichita State, 74-64.
12/31/2009 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2009
WICHITA, Kan. - The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team came up on the short end of a back-and-forth game at Wichita State, falling to the Shockers 74-64 in the Panthers' Missouri Valley Conference opener Thursday night at Charles Koch Arena.
The game featured 12 ties and 23 lead changes before WSU took the lead for good midway through the second half.
Jacqui Kalin and Lizzie Boeck each scored 15 points for the Panthers (4-8, 0-1 MVC), and Erin Brocka grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds for UNI.
Morgan Boyd led WSU (9-3, 1-0 MVC) with 21 points, and Haleigh Lankster added 17.
Nicole Clausen knocked down a three to break a 20-20 tie and give UNI a 23-20 edge. Wichita State rattled off the next seven points in the game, building a 27-23 advantage with 1:30 left in the half.
K.K. Armstrong ended the WSU run with a free throw. She missed the second attempt, but Erin Brocka collected the offensive rebound, and the putback cut the Panther deficit to 27-26 with 1:23 left in the period. After a defensive stop, Jacqui Kalin converted a pair of free throws with 38 seconds left to give UNI a 28-27 lead.
Morgan Boyd hit a short jumper to put the Shockers back in the lead, 29-28, with 15 seconds on the clock. UNI came up empty-handed on its final possession to go into the break trailing by a point.
The teams traded leads 11 times and were in six ties through the first nine minutes of the second half. Kalin hit a jumper at 10:51 to give UNI a 49-48 edge. The Shockers scored the game's next nine points, taking a 57-49 lead with 7:26 to play.
Boeck scored on a putback at 6:50 to end the WSU run, and she finished off an assist from Armstrong at 6:18 to narrow the gap to 57-53.
Haleigh Lankster knocked down a three to put the Shocker advantage back at seven, but Armstrong and Boeck scored on consecutive trips to cut the Panther deficit to three, 60-57, with 5:16 to play.
WSU scored the next eight points to extend its lead to 11, 68-57, with 2:40 remaining.
Kim Wypiszynski ended a three-minute scoring drought for the Panthers with a pair of free throws, but Sheena Johnson knocked down a baseline jumper to keep the Shocker lead at double digits, 70-59, with 1:50 on the clock.
UNI was never able to pull any closer than eight points from that point.
The Panthers shot 35.4 percent (23-of-65) from the floor, including 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from three-point range. UNI finished 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) from the free-throw line.
Wichita State shot 28-of-60 (46.7 percent) from the floor, including 3-of-13 (23.1 percent) from long range. The Shockers converted 15-of-20 (75.0 percent) free-throw attempts.
Each team committed 14 turnovers. UNI converted the Shocker giveaways into 10 points, while WSU claimed 15 points of Panther turnovers. UNI scored 20 second-chance points while holding the Shockers to four. The Shockers held a slight advantage on the glass, claiming 40 rebounds to UNI's 39.
UNI returns to action on Saturday when it plays at Missouri State at 2 p.m.
