University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Bradley
Panthers open “Panthers in Paradise Weekend” with a matchup against Bradley
2/6/2025 2:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball
UNI women’s basketball returns to the McLeod Center to take on the Braves.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The UNI women's basketball team returns to the McLeod Center for the first time in nearly a month to take on the Bradley Braves in UNI's "Panthers in Paradise Weekend" opening matchup. The contest against Bradley opens a stretch that will see six of the Panthers' eight next matchups take place inside the McLeod Center.
This will be the 89th meeting between these two programs with UNI holding a 51-37 lead in the all-time series. These teams last met inside Renaissance Coliseum on the campus of Bradley on January 12. That matchup saw UNI take home a 67-44 victory over the Braves. In that matchup, Maya McDermott and Kayba Laube led the way for UNI with 21 points apiece. Ryley Goebel was the other lone Panther in double figures with 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
UNI is coming off a 69-63 loss at Drake on Saturday. In that matchup, Maya McDermott was the lone Panther in double figures with 27 points. She added three rebounds and four assists. Ryley Goebel led the UNI rebounding effort with seven boards.
With her second assist of the game against Drake, Maya McDermott became UNI's fourth leading assist-getter, passing Loretha Mosley (1987-91) with 425. McDermott finished with four assists and sits with 428 career assists. McDermott also finished with 27 points, her 19th double-figure matchup of the season. McDermott's 27 points saw seven threes go down, a career-high for the senior guard.
UNI continued an active program-record 553-game three-pointer streak that started December 6, 2008, versus Green Bay (6-of-19) following a 0-of-14 outing from behind the three-point arc December 3, 2008, against Northern Illinois. The Panthers knocked down 12 threes against Drake to continue the streak.
Kayba Laube continues to eye the 1,000-point club as she sits with 986 points, just 14 short of being UNI's 31st member and fourth member in the last two seasons after Grace Boffeli, Maya McDermott, and Emerson Green joined last season. Laube currently holds UNI's third spot in three-point percentage with a career mark of 42%.
On Tuesday, 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.
As of February 2, the Panther team leads the Valley in a number of statistical categories including three-point percentage (37.7) and turnovers per game (13.1). UNI also ranks second in the Valley in turnover margin (3.90) and is third in steals per game (9.3). The Panthers' 37.7% from beyond the arc is the sixth-best mark in the nation. Individually, multiple Panther athletes are among the tops in the Valley. Maya McDermott leads the MVC in assist/turnover ratio (2.56), field goal attempts (342), field goals (155), and free throw percentage (94.1). McDermott's 94.1% from the free throw line is ranked fifth in the country while her 2.56 assists per turnover are 18th. McDermott is second in the conference in assists (100), total points (421), and three-point percentage (44.8) and is third in assists per game (4.8) and points per game (20). Kayba Laube leads the MVC in three-point percentage (47.7) and is second in three-pointers (63), and threes per game (3.00). Laube's 47.7% from deep is the fifth-best mark in the country while her 3.00 threes per game are ninth and her 63 total threes are 11th. Ryley Goebel is second in Valley in blocks (44) and third in the MVC in blocks per game (2.10) and steals (48).
"Party like it's summertime!"
- Courtside hot tubs for UNI students
- Hawaiian leis, sunglasses and UNI towels
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.
