CEDAR FALLS — UNI women’s basketball welcomed South Dakota to the McLeod Center for the first time since 2015 on Tuesday evening. The Panthers jumped out to a hot start and never looked back as UNI notched its fifth win of the season with a 78-59 victory over the South Dakota Coyotes.
The Panthers jumped out to a quick 14-6 lead thanks to an eight-point run which saw back-to-back three-pointers from Katy Reyerson to open the contest. The Coyotes stayed close after knocking down a barrage of threes to cut the UNI lead to six before a pair of free throws from Maya McDermott and an and-one three-pointer from Kayba Laube pushed UNI back out to a 12-point lead. South Dakota kept knocking down threes down the stretch and cut the UNI lead to 10 points at a 29-19 score after the first quarter.
The Coyotes knocked down yet another three-pointer to open the second quarter before another eight-point run from UNI, including back-to-back threes from Bri Robinson, gave the Cats a 15-point lead at 37-22. UNI continued to pull away with the lead and pushed it to a 20-point lead at halftime with a 53-33 advantage.
South Dakota opened the second half with another three-pointer before a 7-1 run from UNI gave the Panthers a 23-point lead heading into the third-quarter media timeout with a 60-37 lead. A 10-5 advantage after the break gave UNI a 70-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter. UNI out rebounded the Coyotes 12-6 in the third quarter and 4-0 on the offensive side of the ball.
The Panthers continued to hold on to a big lead throughout the fourth quarter and took home a 78-59 victory. Maya McDermott led Panther scoring with 14 points. She added five assists and three rebounds to her total. Elise Jaeger and Shateah Wetering were the other Panthers in double-figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. Jaeger finished with 12 rebounds.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
UNI improved to 5-4 on the season with a 78-59 victory over South Dakota. The Panthers have won the last six matchups with South Dakota inside the McLeod Center.
Kayba Laube became the 11th Panther to play in more that 130 games in a career as she made her 131st appearance against South Dakota and her 35th career start.
Bri Robinson made her first career three-pointer in the second quarter against The Coyotes.
The Panthers held the Coyotes to nine points in the third quarter. That was the third time UNI had held a team to single digits in a quarter this season.
Elise Jaeger recorded the first double-double of her career. She finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, both a career high.
UNI continued an active program-record 540-game three-pointer streak that started December 6, 2008, versus Green Bay (6-of-19) following an 0-of-14 outing from behind the three-point arc December 3, 2008, against Northern Illinois. The Panthers knocked down nine threes against South Dakota to continue the streak.
Katy Reyerson set a career-high with eight points against South Dakota.
UP NEXT
The Panthers end the non-conference slate with a pair of road contests, the first of which comes on Saturday, December 14 at RV South Dakota State. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT and can be streamed on the Summit League Network or listened to on the Panther Sports Radio Network.