University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Drake
Panthers continue program’s longest rivalry with a matchup against Drake
2/28/2025 5:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball
UNI women’s basketball closes the home portion of the 2024-25 regular season with a senior day matchup against the Bulldogs.
UNI (15-13 / 10-7 MVC) vs. Drake (19-9 / 13-4 MVC)
- 2 p.m. CT | March 1, 2024
- McLeod Center | Cedar Falls, Iowa
- ESPN+
- Panther Sports Radio Network
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- UNI women's basketball will play its last home game of the 2024-25 regular season on Saturday, March 1 against the Drake Bulldogs. Following that matchup, the Panthers will honor seniors Maya McDermott, Emerson Green, Shateah Wetering, Kayba Laube, and Grace Boffeli as a part of UNI's senior day festivities. This will be the 102nd all-time meeting between the Panthers and Bulldogs, UNI's longest-standing rivalry. The Panthers are searching for their first victory over Drake since 2023. Drake came out victorious in this season's first matchup by a 69-63 final score.
UNI is coming off a 71-54 victory over Evansville inside the McLeod Center on Thursday. The victory was the 21st straight victory for UNI over Evansville dating back to 2014. In the matchup, Maya McDermott and Kayba Laube led UNI with 13 points. Laube was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Emerson Green, Ryley Goebel, and Shateah Wetering all finished with 10 points each. Goebel finished with 15 boards for the first double-double of her career. Kaylynn Janes tied a career-high six points in the contest.
Against Southern Illinois, Kayba Laube broke the UNI all-time three-point record set by Jacqui Kalin (2007-13). Her fifth three-pointer of the game gave her 266 career threes and eclipsed Kalin's 265-mark.
The Panthers' 36-point victory against the Salukis was UNI's largest Division I victory of the season and its largest victory over a Division I opponent since a 46-point victory at Bradley last season.
UNI continued its 540-game three-pointer streak with six triples against Evansville.
Against Murray State, Ryley Goebel became just the second athlete in UNI women's basketball history and third in Missouri Valley Conference history to cross the 50-block, 50-steal threshold in a single season.
Maya McDermott was named to the 2025 Women's College Basketball All-Star Game Midseason Watch List. The list includes 68 players for a game that will occur on April 5 in Tampa, Florida. Earlier this season, McDermott was named to the 2025 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award midseason watch list, as announced by Her Hoop Stats. The team included 15 players over 10 conferences. Katie Dinnebier was the other MVC athlete to be named on both lists.
Maya McDermott is 11 points shy of moving up to no. 3 on UNI's all-time scoring list. The senior guard is also just five field goals away from moving up to no. 4 on the all-time field goals list and two free throws from breaking into UNI's all-time top 10. Ryley Goebel is three blocks away from moving into UNI's no. 3 all-time spot.
As of February 28, the Panther team leads the Valley in a number of statistical categories including three-point percentage (36.9) and turnovers per game (12.9). UNI's 36.1% from deep is the 13th-best mark in the nation. The Cats are second in the MVC in steals per game (9.1) and turnover margin (3.86) and third in bench points per game (17.7) and scoring offense (74.8). Individually, multiple Panther athletes are among the tops in the Valley. Maya McDermott leads the MVC in assist/turnover ratio (2.73), field goal attempts (443), and free throw percentage (92.9). Her 92.9% from the charity stripe is fifth-best in the nation while her 2.73 assists per turnover are 13th. The senior guard is third in the league in assists (131), assists per game (4.7), field goals (198), points (529), and points per game (18.9). Kayba Laube leads the Valley with a 47.2% three-point percentage, the second-best mark in the nation, and is second in the MVC in threes (77) and threes per game (2.75). Laube's 77 threes are 15th in the nation. Ryley Goebel Leads the Valley with 62 total blocks and 2.21 blocks per game. She is 15th in the nation with 62 total blocks.
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 2024-25 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
