University of Northern Iowa
Southern Illinois
Kirschbaum, Panthers Handle Southern Illinois, 73-51
2/2/2012 1:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team raced out to a 19-4 lead over Southern Illinois in the first eight minutes and never looked back, winning 73-51 on Thursday evening in the McLeod Center. Junior forward Amber Kirschbaum tallied 23 points and 15 rebounds to lead the UNI charge.
Kirschbaum notched her fourth double-double of the season, matching her career-high in rebounds and coming up one point shy of tying her career-high scoring output.
UNI (14-7, 7-3 MVC) moved one game closer to league-leading Wichita State in the conference standings. Wichita State lost at Creighton on Thursday night, putting UNI in a second-place tie with Missouri State one game behind the Shockers.
The 22-point victory gave UNI its largest margin of victory in a Missouri Valley Conference game this season. UNI shot 25-of-58 (43.1 percent) and made 7-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc. The Panthers' 46.7 percent clip from three-point range was its second-best percentage of the season.
Southern Illinois (6-15, 2-8 MVC) never led in the contest, as the Panthers limited them to 21-of-69 shooting (30.4 percent).
Senior guard Katelin Oney chipped in 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. Senior K.K. Armstrong had six points, six rebounds and five assists.
UNI opened up an 11-2 lead at the first media timeout and expanded that lead to 19-4 with over 12 minutes to play in the first half. The Panthers led by as many as 19 points in the opening half when Brittni Donaldson hit a three from the corner to push the score to 29-10.
Kirschbaum nearly secured her double-double before halftime, taking 15 points and eight rebounds into the break. She scored nine of the Panthers' first 14 points. UNI led 34-20 at halftime.
Southern Illinois cut the Panthers' lead to 10 at 37-27 with 18:03 left in the game, but UNI responded with a 22-5 run over the next seven and a half minutes to put the Salukis away.
The Panthers committed only 10 turnovers in the game, matching their season-low. UNI held a slight edge in rebounding with a 47-44 margin.
UNI will host Evansville on Sat., Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. in the McLeod Center.
NOTES: Redshirt freshman Brooke Brown made her first career start, filling in for junior Mercedees Morgan ... Brown played 31 minutes - the second-highest total of her career ... sophomore forward Jess McDowell played a career-high 23 minutes off the bench, scoring five points and grabbing three rebounds ... UNI has now won 26 of the last 30 meetings with Southern Illinois, including the last six in a row ... with a 4-of-5 shooting performance on Thursday, senior Rachel Madrigal is now shooting 52.4 percent for the season ... Katelin Oney drained two treys to move into a tie for seventh place on the UNI career leaderboard in three-pointers with 125.
