University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
UIC
UNI women's basketball: Panthers head to Chicago for a New Year’s Eve contest
12/30/2025 10:49:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Cats close out 2025 in Chicago against the Flames.
UNI (6-6 / 2-0 MVC) at UIC (6-7 / 1-1 MVC)
- 12 p.m. CT | December 31, 2025
- Credit Union 1 Arena | Chicago, Illinois
- ESPN+
- Panther Sports Radio Network
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The Panthers wrap up 2025 with a New Year's Eve contest in Chicago against UIC. UNI's last NYE matchup came in the 2017-18 season in a victory inside the McLeod Center against Valparaiso. The last time these teams hit the hardwood together was March 6, 2025 in Chicago. Ryley Goebel led all scorers in that matchup with 21 points. She also came up with five rebounds, two steals, and a block. Elise Jaeger finished the contest with six points and nine boards while Taryn Wharton finished with six points and three rebounds.
UNI got back to conference action against Valparaiso on Monday, December 29 with an 86-52 victory to improve to 2-0 in conference play. The Panthers dominated from beyond the arc with 15 triples in the contest.
In that matchup, Jenna Twedt led UNI with 18 points including five three-pointers. Twedt added four steals to her stat line. Kaylynn Janes, Taryn Wharton, Ryley Goebel, and Bri Robinson were all in double figures with 16, 12, 11, and 10 points respectively. Goebel added 13 boards to her line along with three steals while Robinson dished out seven assists. Goebel finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season and the fifth of her career. Abby Tuttle finished with a career-high seven rebounds, Mya Nicholson tied a career-high with two assists, Jenna Twedt knocked down a career-high six field goals and stole a career-high four passes and tied a career-high with five three-pointers, Bri Robinson came up with a career-high seven boards and dished out a career-high seven assists, Maren Schmotzer finished with a career-high four points and two free throws and tied a career-high with one field goal and two blocks, Lauren Walker tied career-highs with two rebounds and one steal, and Kaylynn Janes finished with a career-high 16 points, six field goals, four three-pointers, and four rebounds and tied a career-high with an assist.
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 30, UNI leads the Missouri Valley Conference with 4.3 blocks per game, a 35.5% field goal percentage defense, 29.7 defensive rebounds per game, and a 59.1 scoring defense. The Cats are second in the Valley with a 31.6 three-point percentage. Individually, Elise Jaeger leads the nation with 10 defensive rebounds per game. She is seventeenth in the nation with 10.6 total rebounds per game, the second-most in the MVC, and 24th with 127 total rebounds, also the second-most in the league. Jaeger is fifth in the Valley with 33.18 minutes per game. Ryley Goebel leads the conference with the nation's 27th-most blocks per game (2.00). She also leads the league with 24 total blocks, the 30th-most in the country. The senior is second in the Valley with 2.17 steals per game and is fourth in the conference with 8.0 rebounds per game and 76 total rebounds. Jenna Twedt is fourth in the conference with 2.08 three-pointers per game and a 32.1 three-point percentage and is fifth with 78 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 186 career blocks. She is currently third on UNI's career blocks per game list with 1.8 blocks per outing. Against Valparaiso, Goebel passed Kris Huffman (1985- 89) for seventh on UNI's all-time steals list. The senior has 179 after the matchup with the Beacons and is just eight steals shy of tying Nikki Spettel's (1997-01) 187 career steals for sixth on the list.
UNI continued an active program-record 558-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 15 triples against Valparaiso 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.
