UNI women's basketball begins conference season on the road

UNI women's basketball at Valparaiso

6 p.m. | Jan. 7
Valparaiso, IN | Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000)
ESPN3 (Laura Leonard: Play-by-Play / Connor Onion: Analyst)
1540 KXEL: Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhaus-Schulz: Play-by-Play)

UNI women's basketball at Loyola

1 p.m. | Jan. 9
Chicago, IL | Joseph J. Gentile Arena (4,963)
ESPN3 (Announcers TBA)
1540 KXEL: Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhaus-Schulz: Play-by-Play)

VALPARAISO, Indiana -- After almost 3 weeks off the UNI women's basketball team returns to action on the road against its first MVC opponents of the season.

The Panthers hit the road for their first two games of the Missouri Valley Conference season after having to postpone games against Evansville and Indiana State. UNI will start with a matchup against the Valparaiso Beacons at the ARC before moving onto Chicago for a game with the Loyola Ramblers. The Panthers finished the non-conference season with a 7-4 record capped off with the program's first appearance in the Maui Jim Maui Classic.

THE PANTHERS:
- The Panthers return back to action on Friday after taking a pause in their season. It will have been 19 days since UNI last played when they take the court on Friday. It will be the longest pause in play during the regular season for the Panthers since a 19-day pause in the 1992-1993 season.
- Panther forward Bre Gunnels currently leads the Missouri Valley in free throw percentage. Making 87.5% of her shots at the charity stripe, Gunnels is good for 39th in the nation and 1st in the conference.
- The Panthers rank in the NCAA Division 1 Top 20 in two different turnover categories through the non-conference season. UNI is 10th in the nation for turnovers per game, giving up the ball only 12 times a game. The Panthers are also 14th in assist to turnover ratio at 1.33.
- The Panthers had another challenging nonconference schedule. Six of those foes (Saint Louis, Iowa, Creighton, South Dakota State, Iowa State, and Oregon State) played in postseason tournaments last year with three ranked in the Associated Press Preseason Poll (No. 9 Iowa, No. 12 Iowa State, No. 14 Oregon State). UNI closed out the non-conference season at 7-4.

THE BEACONS:
- The Beacons had one of their strongest offensive performances of the season in their last game against Missouri State. Valpo went 11-for-22 from downtown for the fourth time this season with double-digit 3-pointers and hit 50% or better from deep for the first time of the '21-'22 season.
- Sixth-year forward forward Caitlin Morrison is set to potentially break a pair of program records Friday. Morrison will be appearing in the 126th game of her Valpo career, breaking a tie with Kathryn Knoester for the most games played in program history. If she is part of the starting five, Morrison will have 122 starts in her career, breaking a tie with Meredith Hamlet for the most starts by a player in program history.
- Beacon junior Olivia Brown had a breakout performance last week against Missouri State, having a game high 21 points. Brown shot 8-10 from the field, and 5-6 from 3-point range. Brown had the team's best 3-point shooting effort of the season with 15 points from behind the arc.
- The Beacons lead the MVC in three-point shots attempted with 320 attempts so far. That puts Valparaiso at 33rd among NCAA Division 1 women's basketball programs.

THE RAMBLERS:
- The Ramblers started their conference season on the road with games against Missouri State and Southern Illinois. Loyola dropped both contests by double digits in their return to Gentile Arena. During their first week of conference play, the Ramblers were led by forward Allison Day averaging 12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks.
- Loyola has one of the best blockers in the country in junior forward Julia Hoefling. Hoefling is 34th in blocked shots at 25 and averages 1.92 blocks a game, good for 42nd in the nation.
- This will be the Ramblers first time back home to Gentile Arena in almost a month. Loyola has spent the past six of seven games on the road and was last in Chicago on December 8th. The Ramblers host two games this week including their matchup against the Panthers.

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