Panthers Push Past The Purple Aces, 54-40

Sunday, January 8

Cedar Falls, Iowa

11:30 a.m.

University of Northern Iowa

11-4, 4-0

Evansville

7-8, 2-2

Evansville

UNI

Panthers Push Past The Purple Aces, 54-40

1/8/2017 2:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team turned in another stellar defensive performance, beating the Evansville Purple Aces, 54-40. UNI improved to 11-4 overall and 4-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play.

On offense, UNI was led by sophomore Ellie Herzberg and senior Madison Weekly who scored 16 and 12 points, respectively. On the defensive side of the ball, Hannah Schonhardt notched a career-high 18 rebounds with 16 of them coming on the defensive end of the court.

Evansville didn't get a single shot off from the arc during the first quarter, but UNI struggled from the three as well, shooting 12-percent from the three. Despite Evansville scoring first, the Panthers never trailed again, even jumping out to a five-point leave with a three from Weekly at the 6:30 points in the first quarter.

UNI outscored Evansville in the paint in the second quarter 8-2 after heading into the period up 15-12. UNI's defense didn't falter in the second quarter, holding the Purple Aces to just 25-percent from the field while forcing five turnovers with the Panthers headed into halftime up 26-23.

In the third quarter, UNI turned on the heat with Megan Maahs and Herzberg both going 3-for-5 from the field with the Panthers outscoring Evansville 18-5 in the quarter. Evansville continued to struggle with UNI's defensive pressure, turning the ball over seven times as opposed to UNI's one turnover in the whole second half.

UNI continued to press the Purple Aces, outrebounding them 14-8 in the fourth quarter. Despite Evansville outscoring UNI in the fourth quarter 12-10, the Panthers sailed to a 54-40 victory.

The Panthers return to action on Friday, Jan. 13 when they head to Illinois State to take on the Redbirds at 7 p.m. They follow it up with a Sunday afternoon game at Bradley on Jan. 15 at 2 p.m.

Post-Game Notes vs. Evansville

Senior Madison Weekly scored 12 points against Evansville, pushing her over 1,500 career point mark. She is just the fourth player in UNI history to score 1,500 career points with 1,503 through 107 career games.
Senior Hannah Schonhardt racked up a career-high 18 rebounds, passing her previous career-high of 17 she set against Drake in 2014. The school record for rebounds in a game is 22, set by Allison Starr in 2000.
UNI won its 99^th game in the McLeod Center with its 54-40 win over Evansville.
Ellie Herzberg scored a game-high 16 points against Evansville. She has reached double figures in five of the last six games.
UNI held two of Evansville's three leading scorers to single-digits today. Sara Dickey entered the game averaging 16.7 points per game and 17.7 in MVC play, only scoring eight against UNI. They also held Camary Williams to one point after she was averaging 15.9 points per game and 18.7 in conference play.