University of Northern Iowa Athletics

Panthers face off with Cardinals in a battle of the unbeaten
11/15/2024 3:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
UNI women’s basketball welcomes Ball State to the McLeod Center for the first time on Saturday.
UNI (2-0 / 0-0 MVC) vs. Ball State (3-0 / 0-0 MAC)
- 2 p.m. CT | November 16, 2024
- McLeod Center | Cedar Falls, Iowa
- ESPN+
CEDAR FALLS --- UNI women's basketball returns to the McLeod Center on Saturday, November 16 to take on the Cardinals of Ball State in a Women's Mid-Major top-12 battle. The Panthers are ranked no. 11 in the recent CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major poll while Ball State is ranked no. 2 with two first-place votes.
UNI is coming off a 71-56 victory at Green Bay. In that game, Maya McDermott led the Panthers with 22 points in her 33 minutes on the court. She added seven assists. Taryn Wharton and Grace Boffeli were the other Panthers in double figures with 16 points each. Ryley Goebel led the Panther rebounding effort with 10 boards.
Maya McDermott moved to no. 9 on UNI's all-time scoring list passing Katie Miller's (1999-03) 1,343 point total. Taryn Wharton tied her career high with 16 points. With four blocks, Ryley Goebel moved top no. 10 on UNI's all-time blocks list, tying Hannah Schonhardt (2012-17) with 90 career blocks. The four blocks in a game ties Goebel's career high for the sixth time.
As a team, the Panthers lead the Valley in field goal percentage, shooting 53.4% from the floor. That mark is the eighth-best shooting percentage in the nation. UNI also leads the Valley with 27.5 bench points per game. Individually, Maya McDermott leads both the conference and the nation with 14 assists per turnover. She also leads the conference with seven assists per game, the 13th-best average in the country. Ryley Goebel leads the MVC with a field goal percentage of 78.6%. That mark is the ninth-best percentage in the nation. Goebel's six blocks and three blocks per game are second in the league. Her three blocks per game is the ninth-most in the country.
Ball State is coming off a 95-66 victory over Memphis to improve to 3-0 on the young season. The Cardinals carry a 100-71 away record into the game Saturday in 13 seasons under head women's basketball coach Brady Sallee.
Ally Becki picked up where she left off last season as the senior guard recorded her first triple-double on Wednesday against Memphis. Becki scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds while dishing out 10 assists against the Tigers. Becki's triple-double marked the first from a Ball State women's basketball player since at least 2010 when the NCAA started keeping the triple-double stat. It was also the first NCAA women's basketball Division I triple-double of the season.
After three games the Cardinals rank in the top 50 in seven different categories in the current NCAA Division I rankings; 24th - assists per game (19.7), 29th - 3-point attempts (28.3), 33rd - assist/turnover ratio (1.34), 40th - turnover margin (9.0), 46th - blocks per game (5.3), 46th - turnovers forced (23.67) and 47th - defensive rebounds per game (30.7).
UNI women's basketball action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Women's Basketball), X (@UNIwbb), and on Instagram (@uni_wbb). The 2024-25 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
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