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Dec. 16, 2006

Final Stats

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team missed its first 11 shots and scored just two points through the first nine minutes, but was able to come back to defeat Valparaiso 67-49 in the McLeod Center on Saturday.

            Jessie Biggs led the Panthers (4-5) with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Megan Keefe added 12 points. Tara King finished with a career-high 13 rebounds and nine points. Danielle Wubbens added eight points and six rebounds for UNI.

            Tamra Braun led Valparaiso (4-5) with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

            Both teams had trouble scoring early on, with a layup from Braun representing the only points for either team through the first six minutes of play. Sarah Ott gave Valpo a 4-0 lead with 13:25 left in the first half, and Biggs put the Panthers on the board with a layup with 13:03 on the clock.

            The Panthers scoring troubles continued, as they didn't score again for nearly two minutes, allowing Valpo to build a 9-2 lead. After scoring just two points through the first nine minutes of play, UNI went on a 10-0 run that spanned just over two minutes to give the Panthers as 12-9 lead with 8:51 remaining.

            A three from King at 18:12 put UNI up by nine, 32-23, but Valpo scored the next six points to trim UNI's lead to three. UNI was able to slowly stretch its lead, and took a double-digit lead for the first time when Biggs knocked down a pair of free throws with 12:08 to play to put the Panthers on top, 45-35.

            Leading 50-40, UNI scored six straight points to build a 16-point lead, 56-40 with 6:36 on the clock. UNI never led by fewer than 11 points from that point.

            "With our style of play we're going to have stretches like today where we shoot 1-of-13 from the floor. We just have to be able to overcome those, and I'm happy with the way we did that today," UNI head coach Tony DiCecco said. "We battled hard under the basket, and I'm very happy with the way we rebounded tonight."

            The Panthers held a 42-28 advantage on the boards, holding the Crusaders to just six offensive rebounds and two second-chance points.

            UNI also grabbed 10 steals while forcing 22 Valpo turnovers, which the Panthers turned into 22 points.

            UNI shot 22-of-60 (36.7 percent) from the floor, including 6-of-24 (25 percent) from three-point range. The Panthers finished 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) from the free-throw line.

            Valparaiso shot 19-of-47 (40.4 percent) from the floor, including 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from behind the arc. The Crusaders made 6-of-8 (75 percent) of their free-throw attempts.

            The Panthers will play their final non-conference road game of the season on Tuesday when they travel to Iowa City to face in-state foe Iowa at 7:05 p.m.