UNI women's basketball completes road swing with 83-60 win over Valparaiso

Sunday, February 12

Valparaiso, IN

1 PM

University of Northern Iowa

17-6,12-2MVC

Valparaiso University

4-19,2-12MVC

UNI

Valparaiso

UNI women's basketball completes road swing with 83-60 win over Valparaiso

2/12/2023 4:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

VALPARAISO, Ind. – The Panthers continued their dominant Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) season with a series sweep of the Valparaiso Beacons on Sunday afternoon.

Head Coach Tanya Warren reached two major milestones in the 83-60 road win. Warren picked up career win 300 and set the MVC record for most games coached at 507 games. Along with the records, UNI was hot at the free throw line for one of its best performances of the MVC season so far.

"Today was another terrific team win!" said Head Coach Tanya Warren. "I couldn't be prouder of this team and how they played. After a gritty and tough game on Friday, the togetherness we showed on offense today was the response we wanted.

"As for the milestones today, I can't say enough about the past and present people who have helped me throughout the course of my journey. This milestone could not be possible without them. This is way bigger than me, it always has been. It's a lot to take in. It's hard to process that I was introduced to this game at five and for 50+ years had my dad at my side. We lost him in June and I'm still trying to process all of this without him. It's a lot and I'm extremely blessed to be surrounded by amazing people. Our administration, our staff, our players. This is all a credit to everybody that's been a part of this program."

UNI picked up the early lead thanks to a Beacon foul for an early trip to the line. But the game quickly moved to a back-and-forth pace. The Panthers would keep the upper hand through the first half of the quarter with strong three-point shooting. Valpo wouldn't back down early, tying UNI twice and taking the lead twice. Forward Grace Boffeli would answer for the Panthers, going on a solo eight-point run to close out the first giving UNI a 19-13 lead.

The start of the second would be all Beacons as the Panther lead was cut down to two. But an and-one play from point guard Maya McDermott gave UNI some separation. McDermott took over the Panther offense scoring four straight buckets on two separate three-point plays.

This energized UNIs bench as guards Kayba Laube and Cailyn Morgan made back-to-back threes to put the Panthers up by double-digits midway through the second. UNI's lead would slip under double-digits twice in the quarter. But two quick trips to the line for point guard Taryn Wharton and center Cynthia Wolf pushed the Panther lead back up to 11 going into halftime.

UNI continued its offensive push in the second half, going on a seven-point run to open the third quarter and force a Valparaiso timeout. While the Beacons grabbed a bucket out of the pause, the Panthers answered with another quick run to grow the lead to 23. UNI maintained its hot shooting despite an eight-point Valpo run, closing out the third quarter with 10 more points. The Panthers held a commanding 61-40 lead going into the final frame.

Early fourth-quarter fouls from the Beacons gave UNI four quick points. The Panthers went to the line twice on Sunday from Valparaiso technical fouls, making three of the four shots including one for Laube. After making one free throw, Laube made two straight baskets for UNI. The rest of the fourth became a back-and-forth game as the Panthers pulled their starters with four minutes to go. Point guard Taryn Wharton made three shots at the line to wrap up scoring for UNI in the 83-60 win.

Sunday was one of the Panthers best games at the charity stripe going 24-28 for 85.7%. UNI shot well from other areas of the floor as well with 45% three-point shooting and 41.7% field-goal shooting. The Panthers also added 16 assists on the offensive side of the ball. UNI won the rebounding game by one at 35 while making three steals and two blocks on the defensive side of the ball.

McDermott and Boffeli led the Panthers in shooting with 19 and 15 points. Both also led the team in other stats as McDermott had seven assists and Boffeli grabbed 11 boards. It was Boffeli's ninth double-double performance of the season to lead the Valley.

UP NEXT:
UNI returns home for a game against Illinois State next week. It will be a showdown for first place in the MVC standings in the McLeod Center on Thursday night. Tip-off for the Panthers pink-out game is set for 6 p.m.