UNI women's basketball begins final week of season with Southern Illinois

UNI women's basketball vs. Southern Illinois

6 p.m. | March 2
Cedar Falls, Iowa | McLeod Center (6,550)
ESPN+ | David Warrington: Play-by-play
KXEL | Chris Klienhans-Schulz: Play-by-play

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The Panthers kick off their final week of the regular season with a physical matchup at home.

In their first meeting of the year in Carbondale, UNI had its best scoring game of the season in a 94-81 win over the Southern Illinois Salukis. The Panthers led most of the way in the high-octane offensive game as they drew 26 fouls out of the Salukis. In the late January victory, guard Emerson Green set a career-high in scoring with 26 points, shooting over 50% the entire game. UNI will look to do the same at home this week.

THE PANTHERS:
- UNI split its final road trip of the season with a big win over the Murray State Racers on Saturday afternoon. After a difficult first half that included losing senior center Cynthia Wolf to injury, the Panthers rallied for a 30-point win over the Racers.
- For the fifth straight season, the Panthers end the regular season with a road record of .500 or better. UNI won two-thirds of its road games this season and only fell twice in MVC action. With eight wins and only four losses on the road this season, the Panthers have their best away winning percentage since 2010-2011 when UNI was 11-4 away from the McLeod Center.
- Sophomore forward Grace Boffeli set a career-high in double-doubles with two against both Belmont and Murray State. Boffeli's 11th and 12th double-doubles now solely leads the MVC with Murray State's Katelyn Young close behind. Boffeli also leads the Valley in rebounds, averaging 8.9 boards a game.
- Freshman forward Ryley Goebel stepped up to the plate in more ways than one on Saturday afternoon. With Wolf out for the game, Goebel stepped into the post and had one of her better-scoring games in a Panther uniform. The true freshman made nine points including four layups and had tied a career-high four blocks in UNI's big win over the Racers. Goebel is now in the Top 6 in the MVC in blocks and is one of only two freshmen in the Top 10 of the category.

THE SALUKIS:
- Southern Illinois enters the final week of the regular season with an 11-16 record and an 8-10 MVC record. Last week the Saluki's picked up two straight wins in the MVC season for only the second time this season as their offense outlasted Indiana State and Evansville.
- The Salukis have won two consecutive games for the third time this season and for the first time since they won three straight from Dec. 29 to Jan. 5. In those two games, SIU out-scored its opponents, 184-123.
- Southern Illinois has reached 100 points in a game three times so far this season. The Salukis had zero 100-point games in the past two seasons. The three 100-point games this season are the most in program history since joining the former Gateway Conference in the 1981-1982 season.
- Senior center Promise Taylor recorded the first triple-double for the Salukis in program history against Evansville on Thursday. Taylor recorded 20 points, 11 rebounds, and a school and conference record 10 blocks over the Purple Aces in 22 minutes on the floor. She is also the first MVC player to ever record an official triple-double with blocks. It was the first triple-double for the MVC since Caitlin Ingle for Drake on 1/30/2015 against Missouri State in overtime.

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