Jan. 29, 2006

Box Score

Springfield, Mo. - For the first time in two decades, the University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team was able to leave Springfield, Mo. with a victory.
    The Panthers earned a 64-47 win over Missouri State in front of 6,233 at the Hammons Student Center on Sunday with solid play on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. The victory was the first in 11 tries in Springfield for head coach Tony DiCecco and just UNI's second ever road win over the Bears, with the last coming in the 1985-86 season.
     UNI had contributions both inside and outside, with Cassie Hager leading all scorers with 21 points. The senior center also pulled down six rebounds and tallied four blocks.
     Senior Tara King contributed 17 points for UNI while grabbing eight rebounds, and Traci Ollendieck pitched in 10 points, all of which came in the first half.   Also, Jessie Biggs contributed a career-high nine assists.
                The Panthers faced a mix of zone and man-to-man defense from Missouri State but held a definite defensive edge, holding the Bears below 30 points until the 4:31 mark of the second half. UNI also kept all-America candidate Kari Koch in check, holding her to 15 points -- six below her season average -- on 5-for-21 shooting from the field.
     The game was a matchup of two of the nation's best free-throw shooting teams, with Missouri State's .774 average good for second in the country, just ahead of UNI's .771, the nation's third-best percentage. UNI improved upon that mark with a 22-for-24 (91.7 percent) performance from the stripe. Hager extended her consecutive free throws made streak to 37 before missing her final attempt from the line in the closing minutes. Missouri State, conversely, went 8-for-14 from the stripe (51.7 percent).
     By the 13-minute mark of the second half, the Panthers owned a 42-23 advantage, their largest lead of the game. They matched that mark with four minutes to go, when Chelsey Matthias came off the bench and splashed a 3-pointer to push the Panther lead to 49-30.
     UNI opened the game with a 10-2 blitz in the first four minutes of play thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Ollendieck. The sophomore was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the opening five minutes, as she splashed another to give the Panthers a 13-4 edge.
     The Panthers led by as many as 13 in the first half, but a nine-minute field goal drought allowed Missouri State to go on a 9-0 run and pull within four with seven minutes to play in the half. A shot finally fell just under the six-minute mark as King nailed a jumper from the elbow to give the Panthers a 21-13 edge. 
      A Kelly Lund trey gave the Panthers a nine-point advantage with just under three minutes remaining. Even Hager got in on the 3-point action, hitting a trey with 50 seconds left to extend the Panthers' lead to 28-16. The lead was 28-17 at halftime, with Ollendieck leading the way with her 10 points.  UNI also scored 13 points off turnovers in the first half, compared to four points for the Bears.

UNI improves to 12-6, 6-3 in the MVC and shares second place with Evansville who it hosts Thursday at 7:05 p.m. in the West Gym.