Jan. 14, 2005
Final Stats
The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team continued their strong start to the conference season with a 64-40 rout over Southern Illinois Friday night in Carbondale, Ill. The victory was the fifth straight for UNI as it improves to 10-5 overall and remains tied for first place with Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 4-0 record. The Panthers continued to show why they lead the league in scoring defense by shutting Southern Illinois down to 40 points. For the game the Salukis were 0-4 from three-point land and did not attempt a free throw.
Alex Cook led a very balanced Panther attack with 12 points and seven rebounds. Cook was followed by sophomore point guard Sarah Larsen's nine points and junior center Cassie Hager contributed eight point while tying a career-high six blocks. The Panthers, who had 12 different players score in the game, shot an impressive 44 percent from the field 38.5 percent from three point land.
Southern Illinois scored the first basket of the game, but UNI countered with 18-0 run while holding the Salukis scoreless over a 9:35 stretch. The Panthers would go ahead 21-4 for their biggest lead of the first half before the Salukis would end the half with a 12-4 run to head into the locker room down 25-16.
Alex Cook scored the first four points of the second half to push the lead to 13 and the lead would remain in double digits for the rest of the game. The Panthers would enjoy their biggest lead of 27 points with 35 seconds left in the contest when freshman guard Kelly Lund nailed her only three-point shot of the evening.
Southern Illinois was led by a career high 16 points and 13 rebounds from freshman India Bruster. The Salukis leading scorer Danette Jones, who averages over 15 points/game, was held scoreless by the Panthers stifling defense.
UNI will finish off its three game road trip when it travels to Evansville, Indiana to take on the Purple Aces at 2:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon. The Aces are 2-3 in MVC play and coming off a heart-breaking 68-65 home loss to Bradley on Thursday night.
