University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Illinois State
UNI women's basketball: Panthers open league play inside the McLeod Center
12/2/2025 3:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball
UNI hosts Illinois State to open MVC action on December 3.
UNI (2-4 / 0-0 MVC) vs. Illinois State (4-4 / 0-0 MVC)
- 6 p.m. CT | December 3, 2025
- McLeod Center | Cedar Falls, Iowa
- ESPN+
- Panther Sports Radio Network
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI opens Missouri Valley Conference play on December 3 as the Panthers host the Illinois State Redbirds. The 2025-26 conference season tips off inside the McLeod Center for the first time since the 2020-21 season as the Cats clash with Redbirds. The December 3 tip-off is the earliest the Panthers have opened conference play in their Division I history. The last time the Panthers opened the season against the Redbirds was also the last time they opened the MVC slate at home in 2020-21. The January 1 contest saw the Panthers take home an 82-71 victory. The Panthers have won three of the last four matchups against the Redbirds, including the last two inside the McLeod Center.
UNI is coming off a split of its two contests in Las Vegas with a 79-60 victory over Northern Arizona and a 62-56 loss to UNLV.
Against NAU, Jenna Twedt led the Panther offense with 20 points including a game-high five three-pointers. She added a pair of steals to her line. Ryley Goebel, Elise Jaeger, and Kaylynn Janes all crossed the double-digit threshold with 16, 13, and 11 points respectively. Goebel and Jaeger finished with double doubles as Jaeger brought in 16 boards and Goebel finished with 11. Both had three blocks in the matchup. Taryn Wharton dished out seven assists and tabbed three steals.
Jenna Twedt's five threes are a single-game career high. She also finished with a career-high 20 points, five free throws, and two steals. Elise Jaeger finished with a career-high 16 rebounds. Paired with her 13 points, it was her first double-double since a 12-point, 15-rebound performance last season against Illinois State. She tied career highs with five field goals, three three-pointers, and three blocks.
It was UNI's first game with a pair of athletes with point and rebound double-doubles since February 16, 2018 when Rose Simon-Ressler had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Megan Maahs had 16 and 16 in a contest against Drake.
Against UNLV, Taryn Wharton led the Panther offense with 19 points. She added four boards and four assists. Elise Jaeger was the other Panther in double figures with 13 points. Jaeger led all players with 14 boards and added four assists. She finished with her second double-double of the season and the fourth of her career with the 13/14 performance.
The Panthers are coming off a 2024-25 season that saw numerous season-highs, including single-season points and field goals records as a team. UNI scored 2,519 total points on 934 field goals last season to set program records in those categories.
Starting in all 34 matchups, Ryley Goebel proved to be one of the top defenders in the Missouri Valley Conference after becoming the first player in UNI and MVC history to record 70+ blocks and 70+ steals in a single season. The senior forward became one of 19 to do so in the NCAA at the time. Her MVC All-Defensive team season saw 10.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, and 2.1 steals per game as she recorded the fourth-best field goal shooting season in program history with a 58.9% (162-for-275) field goal percentage and the third-most single-season blocks in program history (78).
Four Panthers were named to the MVC Preseason Watchlist in October, including Goebel, Taryn Wharton, Elise Jaeger, and Bri Robinson. Jaeger became the 12th Panther to be named to the MVC All-Freshman Team after averaging 5.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season, including four double-double performances.
UNI finished the home portion of the 2024-25 regular season with a 9-6 record inside the McLeod Center. It is the 12th consecutive season the Panthers have been over .500 inside the McLeod Center.
As of November 30, UNI leads the Missouri Valley Conference through six games with 4.5 blocks per game, a 35.5% field goal percentage defense, 30.8 defensive rebounds per game, and a 61.8 scoring defense. The Panthers' 30.8 defensive rebounds per game are 17th in the nation.
Individually, Elise Jaeger leads the nation with 11.3 defensive rebounds per game. The sophomore is first in the MVC and sixth in the nation with 12 total rebounds per game, is second in the Valley with 72 total rebounds, and fourth with 1.33 blocks per game. Ryley Goebel leads the conference with the nation's 23rd-most blocks per game (2.17). She also leads the league with 13 total blocks.
Last season, Ryley Goebel became the first player in UNI and Missouri Valley Conference history to record 70+ blocks and 70+ steals in a single season. The forward was just one of 19 to do it in NCAA history at the time and was named to the All-MVC Defensive Team for her efforts. Goebel moved up to No. 2 on UNI's all-time blocks list during the 2024-25 season and now sits with 170 career blocks. She is currently third on UNI's career blocks per game list with 1.8 blocks per outing. Against Iowa, Goebel passed Alex Cook (2001-05) for the No.10 spot on UNI's all-time steals list. The senior has 160 after the matchup with UNLV. She is now 12 steals shy of Kelley Westhoff's (1993-97) 172 career steals for ninth on the list.
UNI continued an active program-record 552-game three-pointer streak that started December 6, 2008, versus Green Bay (6-of- 19) following an 0-of-14 outing from behind the three-point arc December 3, 2008, against Northern Illinois. The Panthers knocked down seven triples against UNLV to continue the streak.
UNI owns active streaks of 17 consecutive seasons at .500 or better in Missouri Valley Conference play and 16 years in a row with at least a top-half finish in the league standings. These are the best active streaks among the 22 total MVC men's and women's basketball programs.
Following a recent audit of historical Missouri Valley Conference coaching records, former Southern Illinois head coach Cindy Scott's win total while a head coach in the league was discovered to be 311 (not 353 as previously recorded). As a result, Missouri State's Cheryl Burnett, previously listed second with 319 wins, had been the league record-holder for total victories while a head coach in the MVC. With her 320th victory on March 7, 2024, at Indiana State, Tanya Warren officially became the Missouri Valley Conference's all-time winningest women's basketball coach. Warren, the longest-tenured active head coach in Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball, sits alone at the top of the Missouri Valley Conference leaderboard in Valley wins with her record-breaking, 202nd conference victory coming at Murray State. The 18-season veteran on the UNI bench has been the Panthers' wins leader since a 65-64 victory on March 4, 2017, against Missouri State put her past Tony DiCecco, and she claimed her 300th win in 2023 in an 83-60 blowout on February 12 at Valparaiso.
This season, the Panthers return six total players including four that made starts in the 2024-25 season. Ryley Goebel leads the returners in playing time with Taryn Wharton, Elise Jaeger, Bri Robinson, and Kaylynn Janes seeing 2024-25 minutes. Mya Nicholson returns as a redshirt freshman after not seeing any action last year. The six athletes combine for 306 career games played and 160 games played over the 2024-25 season, but just 63 career starts with 59 of them coming last season.
The Panthers bring in six newcomers including one NAIA transfer, Virginia Edmondson, one junior college transfer, Jenna Twedt, and four freshmen Abby Tuttle, Anna Greene, Maren Schmotzer, and Lauren Walker.
Edmondson comes to UNI from Montreat College where she made 61 starts in three seasons with the Cavaliers. Edmondson averaged 18.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. She had a standout 2024- 25 season, posting 20.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest, including three 30-point games and four double doubles. A native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, she was named the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Defensive Player of the Year and earned spots on both the All-AAC First Team and All-Defensive Team.
Jenna Twedt joins the Panthers from Kirkwood Community College after a standout two-year career. The 5-foot- 8 guard started all 72 games for the Eagles, averaging 15.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game. Twedt was named the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Tournament MVP as a freshman and earned Conference Player of the Year honors as a sophomore. A two-time First Team All-American, she made 112 three-pointers shooting 40.3% from beyond the arc last season.
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 2025-26 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
