CEDAR FALLS – The UNI women’s basketball team jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never trailed en route to a 78-53 win over NCAA DII NW Missouri State Sunday afternoon at the McLeod Center.
Rose Simon-Resslerccontinues to build her confidence and led the Panthers with 14 points on 6-8 shooting. Kristina Cavey came off of the bench to score 12 points on 5-6 shooting and five rebounds in just 19 minutes on the court.
Twelve Panthers saw the court and 11 scored points, including Kiana Barney who scored her first career points. The Panthers were 28-63 (44.4%) from the field and 9-22 (40.9%) from the three-point line.
UNI outrebounded the Bearcats 41-29. Four UNI players had four or more rebounds. Bre Gunnels and Megan Maahs grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. Karli Rucker led UNI with four assists.
NW Missouri State was 19-51 (37.3%) from the field and 9-19 (47.4%) from the three-point line. Kendey Eaton led all scorers with 27 points on 10-25 shooting.
The Panthers are now 5-0 on the year for the first time since starting the 1998-99 season with seven-straight wins. It is the fifth time in program history that UNI has won the first five games. The Panthers have won their first six games just twice, in 1971-72 when UNI started 6-0 and again in the 98-99 season.
The game was an exhibition for NW Missouri State.
NOTES
- Kiana Barney scored her first career point after redshirting last season and missing much of the first few games with a minor injury.
- The series is now tied at 2-2. It was the first meeting for the two teams since 1980.
- Rose Simon-Ressler was the leading scorer for UNI the first time since scoring a team-high 15 points against Milwaukee in the first round of the WNIT on March 15, 2018.
- Kristina Cavey scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting. She is shooting 18-27 (.667) from the field. She also leads the Panthers in offensive rebounds. She has 12 on the season, double the next-highest Panther.
- After today’s game, the Panthers are 81-100 (81%) from the free-throw line as a team.
UP NEXT
The Panthers head to Las Vegas for the South Point Shootout. UNI faces a pair of Power-Five opponents. UNI faces Alabama Friday at 10 p.m. CT and Ohio State Saturday at 7:45 p.m. CT.
