CEDAR FALLS – UNI women’s basketball hits the road for a pair of matchups this weekend beginning on Thursday at Belmont. This will be the fifth meeting between these two squads. The Panthers are still looking for their first win against the Bruins in program history after Belmont was added to the conference last season. In these teams’ last meeting in January, the Bruins took home a 72-67 victory. In that matchup, Maya McDermott scored her 1,000th career point in the second quarter. She finished with 14 points in the matchup.
UNI is coming off a 96-61 victory over Bradley on Saturday. In that matchup, Kayba Laube led the offense with 26 points. She shot 69.2% (9-13) from the field and 60% (6-10) from beyond the arc. Grace Boffeli led the rebounding effort with 10 rebounds. She was also the other lone Panther to record 20+ points with her 22-point performance. Laube recorded a new career-high in the third quarter with an and-one layup. She finished with 26 points. She tied her career-high with six three-pointers. Grace Boffeli recorded her sixth double-double of the season and the 30th of her career with 22 points and 10 rebounds. She was named the MVC Player of the Week after her performances against Illinois State and Bradley.
With the 96-61 win, Tanya Warren tied the Missouri Valley Conference record with 201 league wins which was set by Cheryl Burnett (Missouri State 1988-02). New next MVC victory will break the league-wins record.
Forward Grace Boffeli recorded 10 rebounds in the game against the Braves. Her 774 is now just 14 short of Tami Schebler’s (1980-84) no. 4 spot with 788 rebounds.
Maya McDermott leads both the conference and the nation in free throw percentage. Her 96.3% (52-for-54) from the stripe has seen all 30 free throws go down inside the McLeod Center and all 31 in conference play. She also leads both the conference and the nation with 3.45 assists per turnover.
As a team, UNI leads the conference with a league-low 12.2 turnovers per game. That mark is the 12th-best in the nation. The Panthers recorded their 501st straight matchup with a three-pointer. In the game against the Braves, UNI knocked down eight threes to continue a streak that has been active since December 2008. As a program, the Panther women’s basketball team is six conference wins away from 500.
Belmont is coming off a 65-55 victory at Southern Illinois. In that matchup, four Bruins recorded double figures with junior guard Kilyn McGuff finishing with a team-high 18 points, freshman guard Jailyn Banks finishing with 15 points, junior forward Tessa Miller recording 13 points, and redshirt junior guard Tuti Jones finishing with 11 points. Only starters scored for the Bruins with the bench going 0-for-5 from the floor.
This season, four Bruins are averaging double figures with Banks averaging 13.1 points per game, Miller with 12.7, junior forward Kendal Cheesman with 10.8, and Jones with 10 per game.
The Bruins hold their opponents to the lowest number of points per game this season with a league-low 60.6 points per game. They do this by holding opposing teams to the lowest field goal percentage in the conference with a 38.2% field goal percentage and a 27.6% three-point percentage. Behind UNI’s 12.2 turnovers per game, Belmont is second in the Valley with 15 turnovers per game.
UNI (9-12 / 9-4 MVC) at Belmont (17-6 / 10-2 MVC)
6:30 p.m. CT | Feb. 22
Curb Event Center | Nashville, Tenn.
ESPN+
Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
