Big Second Half Lifts UNI to 72-54 Win Over Illinois State

Saturday, March 5

Cedar Falls, Iowa

3:00 PM

University of Northern Iowa

Illinois State

Big Second Half Lifts UNI to 72-54 Win Over Illinois State

3/5/2011 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: UNI Athletics Communications

March 5, 2011

Box Score Photo Gallery

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - After leading by just three at the half, the University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team outscored Illinois State 44-29 in the second period to claim a 72-54 win over the Redbirds Saturday afternoon in the McLeod Center. The win is the Panthers' 16^th straight victory.

The Panthers led just 28-25 at the break, but they made their first five shots of the second half and opened the period on a 10-2 run to build a double-digit lead early in the second half.

K.K. Armstrong led UNI (24-5, 17-1 MVC) with 18 points, three assists and three steals. Erin Brocka, one of two seniors recognized prior to the game, tallied a season-high 14 points and four rebounds. Jacqui Kalin scored 11 points for UNI, and the Panthers' other senior, Lizzie Boeck, led UNI with seven rebounds and four steals.

Illinois State (20-9, 12-8 MVC) was led by Kenyatta Shelton, who scored 11 points. Emily Hanley finished with 10 points and six rebounds for the Redbirds.

The teams traded leads twice early, with Illinois State building a 15-11 lead with 11:40 left in the first half.

Kalin hit a jumper and Mercedees Morgan converted a pair of free throws to tie the game for the fourth time, 15-15. Brocka completed a 7-0 run by the Panthers when she knocked down a three at 9:13 to give UNI an 18-15 advantage.

The Panthers followed a basket by ISU's Amanda Clifton with a pair of free throws from each from Katelin Oney and Brocka, stretching UNI's lead to 22-17.

The UNI lead stayed between three and five points through the rest of the half, with UNI taking a 28-25 lead into the break.

Oney hit a layup as she was fouled on UNI's opening possession of the second half, and her free throw doubled the Panther lead, 31-25. She scored off a pass from Boeck on UNI's next trip down the floor to stretch the UNI lead to eight, 33-25 with 19:11 to play.

Clifton hit a pair of free throws to trim the UNI lead to six, but Boeck scored on a layup and Brocka knocked down her second three of the game to give the Panthers their first double-digit lead, 38-27 with 17:37 on the clock.

ISU cut its deficit to eight, 38-30, but the Panthers scored the next four points to return its lead to double digits, 42-30 with 15:59.

A Shelton layup at 15:12 brought the score to 44-35, but UNI responded with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to extend its advantage to 51-35 with 13:10 remaining.

Shelton hit a jumper to end the UNI run, but the Panthers scored the game's next 13 points to build its largest lead of the game, 64-37 with 8:39 left.

UNI led 70-44 with 5:53 left when the Redbirds scored the game's next 10 points to cut the Panthers' advantage to 16 with 1:15 remaining.

Kalin hit a pair of free throws with 1:11 on the clock to bring the final socre to 72-54.

The Panthers shot 33.3 percent (18-of-54) from the floor, including 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from behind the arc. UNI finished 32-of-36 (88.9 percent) from the free-throw line.

Illinois State shot 18-of-44 (40.9 percent) from the floor, and they finished 0-of-5 from three-point range. The Redbirds were 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) from the free-throw line.

Illinois State committed 22 turnovers, with 15 of those coming off UNI steals, and the Panthers scored 26 points off turnovers. ISU turned UNI's 13 turnovers into 10 points.

ISU held a 35-33 rebounding advantage.

The Panthers, who clinched the school's first-ever Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title on the road last week, celebrated by cutting down the nets following the game. UNI will go into next week's State Farm MVC Tournament in St. Charles, Mo., as the No. 1 seed, facing the winner of Thursday's game between No. 8 Bradley and No. 9 Evansville on Friday at noon.