Poor shooting dooms Panthers in 65-50 loss to Creighton

The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team failed to gain ground in the Missouri Valley Conference standings due to their worst shooting night of the season in their 65-50 loss to the Creighton University Bluejays Friday night. However, the Panthers beat the Drake University Bulldogs 82-77 in overtime on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers are now 4-4 on the road this season, and are tied for second place in the MVC.

UNI (13-7, 6-3 MVC) shot a mere 16-for-52 (30.8 percent) from the field against Creighton, including a combined 5-for-28 from K.K. Armstrong, Sharnae Lamar and Brooke Brown. The Panthers hit only 60 percent of their free throws.

Creighton went on a 10-0 run to start the game, but UNI clawed their way back to make it 10-6. CU than went on a 17-4 run to make the score 27-10 and took a 37-20 lead heading into halftime.

In the second half, the Panthers cut the lead down to 12 points on two occasions with less than nine minutes to play, but Creighton answered with a 9-0 run of their own to push their lead to 21. After that, UNI never got closer than the final score.

Two bright spots for UNI were Katelin Oney and Mercedees Morgan. Oney was 4-of-6 from the field while also hitting five of her six free throws for a total of 14 points. Morgan shot 60 percent from the 3-point line (3-for-5) to finish with 11 points.

Ally Jensen, Taylor Johnson, Sarah Nelson and DaNae Moore all scored in double figures for Creighton, who outscored the UNI bench 21-9. The Panther bench shot 2-for-17 from the field (11.7 percent) and went just 4-for-10 (40 percent) from the charity stripe.

Amber Kirschbaum was limited to just 15 minutes of action after fouling out with less than four minutes left in the game. Armstrong finished the game with seven points but also played limited minutes due to foul trouble. Rachel Madrigal also finished with seven points.

After splitting against Creighton and Drake, UNI is helping the Missouri Valley Conference standings remain in a cluster. Wichita State University holds the top spot, followed by a three-way tie for second place and another two-way tie for fifth. Overall, six of the 10 teams in the MVC are separated by three games.

The Panthers return to action Thursday when they host Southern Illinois University at 7 p.m.