University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Evansville
Panthers wrap up regular season at Evansville
3/8/2024 7:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Women’s hoops set to put a bow on the regular season Saturday at Evansville.
UNI (14-14 / 13-6 MVC) at Evansville (4-26 / 2-17 MVC)
- 2 p.m. CT | March 9
- Meeks Family Fieldhouse | Evansville, Ind.
- ESPN+
- Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
CEDAR FALLS --- UNI women's basketball is set to face off on the final day of the regular season on Saturday. The Panthers will match up with the Purple Aces of Evansville with MVC Tournament seeding implications on the line. The two programs have met on 63 previous occasions with UNI owning the series record 44-19, and a 19-game win streak. The last matchup saw an 82-52 Panther victory. In that ballgame, Kayba Laube led UNI with 15 points. She added four rebounds and two steals in her 23 minutes on the court and shot 42.9% from three. In her Panther basketball debut, Emily Holterhaus scored 11 points off the bench and added two rebounds in her 11 minutes.
UNI is coming off a 91-62 victory over Indiana State. The UNI offense was led by Maya McDermott. She tallied 25 points, her ninth 20+-point performance of the season, on 9-for-16 shooting and 5-for-8 from downtown. She was also 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Taryn Wharton, Kayba Laube, and Grace Boffeli were the other three Panthers in double-figures with 14, 12, and 10 points respectively. Boffeli finished with 11 rebounds.
Forward Grace Boffeli recorded 11 rebounds in the game against the Sycamores. Her 839 career rebounds leave her in third on UNI's all-time rebounding list. She is now 43 shy of the no. 2 spot which is occupied by Megan Maahs (2016-21) with 882 career rebounds. Boffeli recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Indiana State. She is now 7 double-doubles away from tying Alex Cook (2001-05) for UNI's top spot with 41 double-doubles.
Maya McDermott leads both the conference and the nation in free throw percentage. Her 95.9% (71-for-74) from the stripe saw all 39 free throws go down inside the McLeod Center during the regular season. She also leads the conference with 2.74 assists per turnover. That mark is the 12th-best in the nation.
Guard Kayba Laube leads the conference with a 43% three-point percentage. Her 68 three-pointers this season lead the MVC along with a league-high 2.43 threes per game.
As a team, UNI leads the conference with a league-low 12.6 turnovers per game. That mark is the 21st-best in the nation. The Panthers recorded their 508th straight matchup with a three-pointer. In the game against the Sycamores, UNI knocked down 12 threes to continue a streak that has been active since December 2008. As a program, the Panther women's basketball team is one conference win away from 500.
With the victory over the Sycamores, head coach Tanya Warren moved into the no. 2 spot in the MVC in all-time coaching wins passing Cheryl Burnett (Missouri State 1988-02) with 319. Next on the list is the no. 1 spot occupied by Cindy Scott (Southern Illinois 1983-98) with 353 overall victories. With a win over the Salukis, UNI women's basketball secured its 16th straight season at or above .500 in conference play. They also finish the regular season 9-4 at home, the 11th straight year the Panthers have been over .500 inside the McLeod Center. UNI women's basketball has never posted a losing record inside the McLeod Center.
UNI cracked the NET top 100 for the first time this season after the victory at Indiana State. As of March 8, the Panthers are ranked No. 97 in the NET, the third-highest in the Valley behind Drake (71) and Belmont (75).
Evansville is coming off its sixth straight loss with a 53-86 matchup against Drake on Thursday. In the game against Drake, freshman forward Nevaeh Thomas led the Purple Aces offense with 14 points. Grad center Barbora Tomancova recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
This season, Thomas leads the offense with 15.2 points per game. She adds an average of seven rebounds per game as well. Tomancova leads the rebounding effort for Evansville with 8.2 boards per game.
