University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
St. Thomas
UNI women's basketball: Panthers close non-conference slate at St. Thomas
12/20/2025 10:38:00 AM | Women's Basketball
UNI women’s basketball heads to St. Paul, Minnesota for its final non-conference test against the Tommies.
UNI (4-6 / 1-0 MVC) at St. Thomas (6-6 / 0-0 Summit)
- 2 p.m. CT | December 21, 2025
- Schoenecker Arena | St. Paul, Minnesota
- Midco Sports Plus
- Panther Sports Radio Network
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The Panthers continue their road stand as they head to St. Paul, Minnesota to take on St. Thomas. UNI and St. Thomas have faced off on two previous occasions, both of which went the way of the Cats. Their first matchup was St. Thomas' first season at the Division I level after making the jump from Division III. That matchup saw a 102-62 victory for UNI while the last meeting in 2022 saw a 58-46 victory for UNI. In 2022, a freshman Ryley Goebel saw 15 minutes of action. She scored one point, brought in three boards, and stole three passes. Taryn Wharton saw 10 minutes of action against the Tommies in 2022 in her freshman season.
UNI is coming off an 81-53 loss at No. 10 Iowa State. The Cyclones flexed their offensive efficiency and shot 44.8% from the field and 41.4% from deep to hand the Panthers a loss inside Hilton Coliseum.
In that matchup, Abby Tuttle led UNI with 13 points. She added five assists and three rebounds off the bench. Rykley Goebel finished with 10 points and five boards while Elise Jaeger led the game with 12 rebounds. Tuttle finished with career-highs of 13 points, four field goals, two three-pointers, and three free throws and tied career-highs with three rebounds and one steal.
Ryley Goebel was named the MVC Player of the Week on Monday, December 8. Goebel finished the Panthers' 2-0 week with 30 points, 19 rebounds, 11 steals, and four blocks in a pair of 10+-point victories, including a 14-point win over Illinois State. Against the Redbirds, Goebel finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, and seven steals, just three swipes short of being the Panthers' third double-double performer in UNI history. The forward was 14-24 (58.3%) from the floor, including a 60% shooting performance (6-for-10) against Illinois State. Goebel led the Panthers in both matchups.
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 December 15, UNI leads the Missouri Valley Conference through eight games with 4.5 blocks per game, a 36.2% field goal percentage defense, 29.7 defensive rebounds per game, and a 61.7 scoring defense. Individually, Elise Jaeger leads the nation with 10.7 defensive rebounds per game. She is seventh in the nation with 11.2 total rebounds per game and 17th with 112 total rebounds. Jaeger is seventh in the Valley with 1.00 block per game and 33.84 minutes per game. Ryley Goebel leads the conference with the nation's 16th-most blocks per game (2.30). She also leads the league with 23 total blocks, the 20th-most in the country. The senior is third in the Valley with 2.10 steals per game, is fourth in the conference with 79 total rebounds, and sixth with 7.9 per game. Jenna Twedt sits seventh in the Valley with 62 total three-point attempts.
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 185 career blocks. She is currently third on UNI's career blocks per game list with 1.8 blocks per outing. Against South Dakota State, Goebel passed Kelley Westhoff (1993-97) and Kary Dawson (1997-01) for the No. 8 spot on UNI's all-time steals list. The senior has 174 after the matchup with the Jackrabbits. She is now three steals shy of tying Kris Huffman's (1985-89) 177 career steals for seventh on the list.
UNI continued an active program-record 556-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 four triples against Iowa State 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.
