University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
South Dakota State
UNI women's basketball: Panthers return to the McLeod Center for final home non-conference test
12/9/2025 6:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
UNI women’s basketball hosts the SDSU Jackrabbits on December 10.
UNI (4-4 / 1-0 MVC) vs. South Dakota State (8-2 / 0-0 Summit)
- 6 p.m. CT | December 10, 2025
- McLeod Center | Cedar Falls, Iowa
- ESPN+
- Panther Sports Radio Network
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The Panthers return to the McLeod Center on December 10 to take on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. The Panthers and Jackrabbits meet for the 19th time in program history with SDSU on a three-game win streak dating back to 2022. Last season, the RV Jackrabbits were victorious in Brookings, South Dakota by a 68-53 final. In that matchup, Ryley Goebel, Elise Jaeger, and Taryn Wharton were the only current Panthers to record stats while Bri Robinson and Kaylynn Janes combined for four minutes on the court. Goebel paced the trio with eight points on 4-for-5 shooting with two blocks and two steals. Jaeger finished with six points and five boards while Wharton tallied four points and three assists.
UNI is coming off its fourth victory in the last five games with a 68-52 victory over Toledo. The Panthers and the Rockets battled even through the first half, but the Cats turned it on in the second half and put away Toledo with a 23-point fourth quarter. Ryley Goebel led the Panther offense with 17 points. She added six rebounds, four steals, and two blocks. Taryn Wharton, Kaylynn Janes, Elise Jaeger, and Jenna Twedt all crossed the double-digit mark with 11, 11, 10, and 10 points respectively. Jaeger added a game-high 10 boards as well as a block and a steal. Wharton dished out six assists.
In that matchup, Elise Jaeger picked up her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Kaylynn Janes tied career-highs with 11 points, four field goals, three three-pointers, two rebounds, and one assist.
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 8, UNI leads the Missouri Valley Conference through eight games with 4.6 blocks per game, a 35.4% field goal percentage defense, 30.1 defensive rebounds per game, and a 59.6 scoring defense. The Panthers' 30.1 defensive rebounds per game are 25th in the nation. Individually, Elise Jaeger leads the nation with 11 defensive rebounds per game. The sophomore is first in the MVC and eighth in the nation with 11.5 total rebounds per game, is third in the Valley with 92 total rebounds, and sixth with 1.13 blocks per game. Ryley Goebel leads the conference with the nation's 23rd-most blocks per game (2.13). She also leads the league with 17 total blocks. The senior is third in the Valley with 2.25 steals per game and is fifth in the league with 8.0 rebounds per game. Jenna Twedt sits fifth in the Valley with a 29.6% three-point percentage and sixth with 2.0 three-pointers per game.
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 179 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 171 after the matchup with Toledo. She is now one steal shy of tying Kelley Westhoff's (1993-97) 172 career steals for ninth on the list.
UNI continued an active program-record 554-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 six triples against Toledo 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.
