University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Wisconsin-Green Bay
UNI Narrowly Misses Upset of No. 25 Green Bay
11/10/2012 1:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The No. 25-ranked University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix escaped the McLeod Center with a 54-53 victory over the University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team in the Panthers' season opener on Saturday.
UNI's Brittni Donaldson's missed a jumper at the buzzer that would have given the Panthers the victory, but the 11-foot floater in the lane hit the rim on the left side and bounced off. The Panthers trailed 31-22 at the half, but rallied to a take a 45-42 lead after back-to-back three-pointers from Jacqui Kalin.
Green Bay took a 54-50 lead with 3:38 left but could not score the the rest of the way. UNI's Jess McDowell drained a 3-pointer with 3:16 left to account for the final scoring in the game. Donaldson missed a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left but the Panthers got another chance to win after Green Bay's Megan Lukan missed two free throws with 6.6 seconds left.
UNI called timeout with 6.3 seconds left to draw up the final play. The Panthers got the ball in-bounds and Kalin found Donaldson on the right wing for the Panthers' final opportunity. UNI will play its next home game on Thurs., Nov. 15, at noon vs. South Dakota in the McLeod Center.
NOTES: UNI's last win over a ranked opponent came Feb. 18, 2011, when the Panthers scored a 99-80 win over the Missouri State Bears ... Jacqui Kalin led the Panthers with 17 points, including 4-of-9 from 3-point land.
