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Women's Basketball
Panthers Notch 73-68 Win Over Bulldogs
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team took advantage of 38 trips to the foul line en route to a 73-68 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Drake on Thursday night in the McLeod Center. UNI's Tara King tied a school record by draining 16-of-18 free throw attempts in the triumph. King tied Deb Drenth, who drained 16 free throws against Northwestern on Feb. 21, 1981. King made only two shots from the field but tallied 20 points to lead the Panthers to the win. King also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for her sixth career double-double. Drake gained an early 17-11 edge in the contest before UNI went on a 18-4 run to take a 29-21 lead with 1:55 left in the first half. UNI eventually pushed the lead to 10 at 33-23 before Drake trimmed the margin to 33-25 at the intermission. "I give Drake a lot of credit because they took us out of our game," UNI head coach Tony DiCecco said. UNI kept the margin at 10 to begin the second half on a pair of layups from Jessie Biggs and Sarah Larsen. However, Drake whittled away at the UNI advantage and knotted the contest at 40-40 with 13:01 to play in the game. The squads then traded the lead back and forth 11 times before the Panthers finally grabbed a 58-57 lead on a pair of free throws from Biggs at the 4:23 mark. Drake would tie the game for the 12th time at 58-58 on a free throw by Brandy Dahir at the 4:06 mark. UNI secured the lead for the final time on a layup from Traci Ollendieck at the 3:02 mark. Ollendieck added her second straight driving layup with 2:21 to go in the game to push the lead to four.
Drake would get as close as three points on two occasions in the game's final minute, but UNI held on for the 73-68 win. "I firmly believe that we took something from all those close losses earlier this season," DiCecco said. "You have to take things from those losses to help you get these wins. We know we are good enough to play with everyone in the league. "I thought our ability to get to the free throw line was a big part of the win. We stayed aggressive and attacked the rim." King's 20-point night led the Panthers, but Megan Keefe's 17 points could not go overlooked DiCecco said. "Keefe was a big factor in the first half," DiCecco said. "We needed that lift." Drake's Dahir scored a game-high 26 points in a losing effort. Dahir made 11-of-18 shots from the field. UNI improved to 12-9 on the season and 8-4 in MVC play, while Drake dropped to 7-13 overall and 2-8 in league games. The Panthers will be in action at home again on Saturday at 4 p.m. against the Creighton Bluejays. |
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