CEDAR FALLS – UNI women’s basketball wraps up a road trip down South with a matchup at Murray State on Saturday. This will be the sixth overall meeting between these two squads with all of the last five meetings falling in the way of the Panthers. The last time these two teams met, UNI came away with a 95-75 victory inside the McLeod Center. In that matchup, three Panthers recorded 20+-point games with Emerson Green leading the way with 23 points and both Kayba Laube and Maya McDermott finishing with 20 points apiece. Grace Boffeli also finished with a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
UNI is coming off an 84-72 loss at Belmont on Thursday. In that matchup, three Panthers recorded double-figure points with Maya McDermott tallying 15 points, Grace Boffeli finishing with 13, and Kayba Laube coming up with 11 points. Both Boffeli and Laube were one rebound short of a double-double with nine boards apiece.
Laube’s nine rebounds against Belmont were a new career high. She also passed now-coach Katelin Oney (2008-12) in three-pointers in the first quarter to enter UNI’s top 10 all-time.
Tanya Warren tied the Missouri Valley Conference record with 201 league wins which was set by Cheryl Burnett (Missouri State 1988-02) with a 96- 61 victory over Bradley. Her next MVC victory will break the league-wins record.
Forward Grace Boffeli recorded 9 rebounds in the game against the Bruins. Her 783 career rebounds are now just five 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 3.22 assists per turnover.
As a team, UNI leads the conference with a league-low 12.3 turnovers per game. That mark is the 14th-best in the nation. The Panthers recorded their 502nd straight matchup with a three-pointer. In the game against the Bruins, UNI knocked down seven 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.
Murray State is coming off an 81-75 loss to Drake on Thursday. In that matchup, senior forward Katelyn Young and redshirt freshman guard Zoe Stewart were the lone Racers in double figures after Young posted a 20-point double-double and Stewart finished with 17 points. Young’s double-double featured 12 rebounds. Junior guard/forward Ava Learn finished with 10 rebounds.
This season, four Racers are averaging double-figure points including Young (18.5), Learn (11.1), freshman guard Haven Ford (10.7), and senior forward Hannah McKay (10.3).
Murray State remains one of the top offenses in the nation, averaging a league-high 87.2 points per game. That mark is fourth in the nation. On the flip side of the ball, the Racers allow 77.4 points per game. That is the second-highest number of points per game allowed in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Murray State bench is averaging a nation-leading 38.3 points per game. The bench is led by Ava Learn and Haven Ford who are combining for 21.8 points per game off the bench and are the second and third-leading scorers on the squad.
UNI (9-13 / 8-5 MVC) at Murray State (15-7 / 8-5 MVC)
2 p.m. CT | Feb. 17
CFSB Center | Murray, Ky.
ESPN+
Panther Sports Radio Network (Chris Kleinhans-Schulz: Play-by-Play)
