Panthers take two games in three days

The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team started their weekend off with a bang, beating the Southern Illinois University Salukis 73-51 Thursday night in the McLeod Center.

UNI started the game on a 19-4 run and never led by less than double digits from that point on. The Panthers extended their lead to 29-10 off of a Brittani Donaldson 3-pointer and took a 14-point lead into halftime. In the second half, UNI hit 5-of-8 3-point shots to take a 30-point lead with just over five minutes to play before finally winning by 23.

Junior forward Amber Kirschbaum recorded a double-double, leading the Panthers with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Senior guard Katelin Oney added another 13 points and six boards for UNI.

The Panthers remained hot as they took the court Saturday night in the McLeod Center, defeating the University of Evansville Purple Aces 58-53. UNI has now won eight of their last 10 games.

UNI (15-7, 8-3 MVC) won despite being outrebounded 42-29 and shooting just 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) from the 3-point line.

"It was kind of a rough win," said Oney. "I don't think we played with the amount of energy we normally do, but I think we got that around in the second half."

The Panthers got out to an early 11-5 lead with just under 13 minutes to go in the first half, but Evansville (4-18, 1-10 MVC) fought back to tie the game up midway through the half. The score remained tight, and Evansville took a 27-23 lead heading into halftime.

In the second half, UNI used a 7-0 run, including five straight points from Rachel Madrigal, to take a 36-31 lead with just over 12 minutes left in the game. The Panthers extended that lead to double digits until just under eight minutes left in the game. Evansville went on a 9-0 run to bring the game within three points with just less than two minutes left, but the UNI lead was too large to overcome.

Oney led the Panthers with a game-high 16 points. Rachel Madrigal and Amber Kirschbaum also scored in double figures with 12 points and 11 points, respectively. K.K. Armstrong chipped in with nine points and seven rebounds.

With the two wins, UNI is now in a tie for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference with Missouri State University. The two schools are just one game behind Wichita State University for the lead in the MVC and one game ahead of fourth place Illinois State University.

"This team has not stopped believing," UNI head coach Tanya Warren said after the game. "Our three seniors have done an incredible job as a whole of leading this unit, and our young kids have done a great job of following."

The Panthers return to action Friday against Illinois State in Normal, Ill. UNI defeated ISU 79-73 earlier in the season at the McLeod Center.