CEDAR FALLS – The UNI women’s basketball team is set to face off with the Coyotes of South Dakota on Wednesday evening inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Complex in Vermillion, South Dakota. This will be the 14th overall meeting and the first since a 51-50 Panther loss in 2016. UNI is looking to tie the series at seven wins a piece on Wednesday with their second win of the season.
The Panthers are coming off a 0-2 weekend in the 2023 South Point Shootout in Las Vegas, Nevada. The tournament saw losses to Syracuse and Vanderbilt. Against Syracuse, Cailyn Morgan led the Panther scoring effort with a career-high-tying 12 points shooting 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. In the game against Vanderbilt, Grace Boffeli led the Panthers with 25 points. In that game, Kayba Laube netted a career-high 21 points with six three-pointers and three free throws, her first free throw attempts of the season. Grace Boffeli was named to the South Point Shootout All-Tournament Team after her weekend performance.
Forward Grace Boffeli is currently 15 rebounds away from breaking into the UNI top-10 for career rebounding. Her 685 rebounds over her career is just short of Kary Dawson’s (1997-01) 700 career rebounds. Guard Maya McDermott is averaging 3.6 assists per turnover, the second-best mark in the conference while UNI averages 14 turnovers per game which is the second-lowest mark in the conference, just short of Belmont’s best mark of 13.8 turnovers per game.
South Dakota is coming off a 72-52 victory against South Carolina State. Before that, the Coyotes went 1-2 in their Battle 4 Atlantis tournament with a victory against DePaul and losses to RV Michigan and RV Arizona. The South Dakota offense is led by junior guard Grace Larkins. In seven games, Larkins has totaled 95 points on 45.8% shooting (33-of-72) and averages 13.6 points per game. Not only does she lead the team in points, but she also leads the Coyotes in rebounds and assists with 48 total rebounds and 31 total assists. She sits first in the Summit League in assists, second in points, and third in rebounds. As a team, the Coyotes lead the Summit League with 15 assists per game, a 45.2% field goal percentage, and a 74.2% free throw percentage.
The games will be broadcast on the Summit League Network and can be listened to on the Panther Sports Radio Network.
UNI (1-4 / 0-0 MVC) at South Dakota (4-3 / 0-0 Summit)
6 p.m. CT | Nov. 29
Vermillion, S.D. | Sanford Coyote Sports Complex
Summit League Network
Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
