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Women's Basketball
Women's Basketball to Host Northern Illinois, Green BayDec. 2, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK IN PANTHER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Dec. 3 vs. Northern Illinois McLeod Center 12:05 p.m. The University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team will host Northern Illinois and Green Bay on Wednesday and Saturday in the McLeod Center. Both games will tip off at 12:05 p.m. and will be broadcast by KWLO 1330 AM.
PANTHERS TO HOST NORTHERN ILLINOIS, UW-GREEN BAY The University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team will return home to host Northern Illinois and UW-Green Bay this week. UNI will host the Huskies at 12:05 p.m. on Wednesday, and the Phoenix will play the Panthers at 12:05 p.m. on Saturday. The Huskies and Panthers enter Wednesday’s contest both looking to end a two-game skid. The Panthers dropped games to Nevada and Alabama at the Nugget Classic in Reno, Nev., and NIU lost at Bradley before losing a home game against Milwaukee. Junior guard Nicole Clausen is leading UNI with 15 points per game, and she ranks eighth in the nation with 3.6 threes per game. Clausen earned all-tournament honors after finishing with 14.5 points per game in UNI’s two contests in Reno. The junior was 9-of-20 from behind the arc in those games, including a 6-of-11 performance against Nevada. Freshman K.K. Armstrong is averaging 12.0 points per game, and junior Kim Wypiszynski is the Panthers’ top rebounder with 6.6 per game. Ebony Ellis is leading the 2-4 Huskies with 13.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. The Huskies are averaging 65.7 points per game while their opponents have averaged 68.7. The Phoenix enter a Wednesday matchup with Missouri State with a 5-0 record, and they are receiving votes in the AP poll. Green Bay is giving up just 49.6 points per game, and it has only allowed more than 60 points once, when Miami scored 61 on Nov. 16. UWGB has six players averaging eight points or more per game, led by Rachel Porath (10.6) and Lavesa Glover (10.2). UNI vs. NIU This is the 12th meeting between the Panthers and Huskies, and UNI leads the all-time series, 6-5. Northern Illinois won the last meeting, claiming a 61-46 victory in DeKalb last season. Jacqui Kalin led UNI with 11 points in that loss. The Panthers shot a season-low 23 percent from the floor in that game. The teams last met in Cedar Falls on Nov. 26, 2004, with the Panthers claiming a 74-60 win. UNI vs. UW-GREEN BAY This is the seventh meeting between UNI and Green Bay. The Phoenix lead the series, 4-2, including a 72-58 win when the teams last met in 2001. The Panthers won the last time the teams played in Cedar Falls, claiming a 67-59 win on Nov. 19, 2000. SCHEDULE CHANGE A scheduling conflict at Moby Arena has moved UNI’s game at Colorado State from Dec. 13 to Dec. 14. Tip off is still set for 1 p.m.
GOLDEN NUGGET Nicole Clausen was tabbed to the Nugget Classic All-Tournament team after averaging 14.5 points against Nevada and Alabama. The junior was 9-of-20 from three-point range in the tournament, including a 6-of-11 effort against the host Wolf Pack. NOT TO JINX HER, BUT… Nicole Clausen enters the week with a perfect 9-of-9 mark from the free throw line. The junior has connected on her last 13 free-throw attempts, and she has not missed since she failed to connect on a try with 21 seconds left at Southern Illinois on March 1, 2008. THERE’S SOME GOOD NEWS… The Panthers saw one of its captains return to the starting lineup when Jacqui Kalin made her 2008-09 debut against Western Illinois on Nov. 25. The sophomore point guard missed UNI’s first two games after spraining her ankle in practice. … AND SOME BAD NEWS. UNI was still playing without one of its captains, however, as Danielle Wubbens was sidelined with a broken hand. The junior guard fractured a bone in her right hand in the game against Iowa State on Nov. 20. CLAUSEN FOR THREE With 3.6 threes per game, Nicole Clausen ranks No. 8 in the nation in that category. She also ranks 26th in the nation in three-point percentage, connecting on 50 percent of her tries from long range. Clausen is 18-of-36 from behind the arc through UNI’s first five games, putting her on target to challenge UNI’s single-season record of 73 threes in a season set by Molly Kelly in 1990. SECOND-HALF TEAM The Panthers are proving to be a second-half team early in the season. UNI has scored 189 of its 317 points (60 percent) in the second half. UNI is 46-of-142 (32.4 percent) from the floor in the first half in its first five games, but the Panthers improve to 59-of-128 (46 percent) after the intermission. A FORCE INSIDE Junior transfer Kim Wypiszynski is making her presence known right away at the post for the Panthers. Wypiszynski is leading UNI with 6.6 rebounds per game, and she tallied the first double-double of the year for UNI when she scored 11 points to go with 11 rebounds against Western Illinois. Wypiszynski is also averaging 7.2 points per game for UNI. COMEBACK KIDS The Panthers could have packed it in when NDSU scored with 17 minutes to play to take a 43-27 lead. The team did not give up, however, shooting 18-of-25 (72 percent) from the floor and finishing with 53 points in the second half to come back and claim a 77-73 victory over the Bison. UNI PICKED FIFTH The Panthers were picked to finish in the top half of the league standings by the MVC’s coaches, SIDs and media, claiming the fifth spot in the preseason poll. Illinois State was the unanimous pick to win the league, followed by Creighton, Drake and Evansville. Last season, UNI was tabbed eighth and finished in a tie for sixth. KALIN EARNS PRESEASON HONORS Sophomore Jacqui Kalin was selected to the MVC Preseason All-Conference team by the league’s coaches, SIDs and media. Kalin was the 2008 MVC Freshman of the Year, and she earned second-team all-conference honors following that season. THREE-POINT THREATS In each of the last three seasons, UNI has set new school marks for threes made in a season. In 2005-06, the Panthers set the mark at 174, and the 2006-07 team improved that to 182. The 2007-08 team became the first Panthers squad to make more than 200 threes in a season, connecting 204 times from long distance. The Panthers have made 36 threes through the first five games of the season, putting them in position to make a run at the record once again. Getting Off On The Right Foot Freshman K.K. Armstrong did not waste any time making an impact in the Panther lineup. The guard scored 25 points and dished out eight assists in UNI’s 77-73 win at NDSU in the season opener. Armstrong accounted for UNI’s first seven points of the game. WE GO WAY BACK The 2008-09 roster features three sets of high school teammates. Redshirt sophomore Lindsey Swanson and junior Nicole Clausen played together at Denison-Schleswig High School. Sophomore Erin Brocka and freshman Indy Uhlenhopp were teammates at North Butler High School, and freshmen Katelin Oney and K.K. Armstrong both played at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. SUITE VIEW The McLeod Center will feature eight new suites in the 2008-09 season. Peters Construction Corporation has begun construction on the suites and will donate them to UNI before the start of the winter sports season. Each suite will hold 12-16 theater-style seats as well as a hospitality area. MAKE UNI THE HOME TEAM The 10 MVC teams will return to St. Charles, Mo., from March 12-15 for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Last season was the first time the event was held at a neutral site, with the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament decided in St. Charles’ Family Arena. UNI GAMEDAY ONLINE All of UNI’s home regular-season women’s basketball games can be viewed and listened to on the World Wide Web by going to www.unipanthers.com. UNI has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live video and audio streaming of Panther basketball via “UNI GameDay Online.” In addition to video from most home women’s basketball contests, and audio from every home and most road games, this subscription-based service also provides video and audio of a number of other UNI sports. In addition, all Panther home women’s basketball games have free live stats courtesy of GameTracker. Panthers Add Three for 2009-10 SEASON UNI added three student-athletes to its 2009-10 roster. Joining the Panthers next season will be Amber Kirschbaum from Spirit Lake High School, Jessica McDowell from AGWSR, and Tiffanie Porter from Des Moines East High School. Kirschbaum was a first-team all-conference and all-state selection as a freshman, sophomore and junior. As a junior, she was also nominated for the Gatorade Player of the Year. Her sophomore year, she was named the 3A all-state tournament team captain. She averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds per game in her career. Kirschbaum also played with the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association select team. A four-year starter for AGWSR, McDowell earned all-conference honors as a freshman, sophomore and junior. She was also named first-team all-district and all-state in 2008, and she was the conference MVP as a junior. McDowell helped led AGWSR to the state tournaments for the last three seasons, and she has helped the team finish with a 75-4 mark in those three years. Porter is a two-year starter for Des Moines East. As a junior, she earned second-team all-conference honors, and she averaged 9.0 points, 4.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. She led the team in steals as a junior. TICKET INFORMATION Full-season ticket packages are available to see the Panther women’s basketball team in action at the McLeod Center. A total of 15 exciting home games are on tap in 2008-09, and single-game tickets are also on sale. Contact UNITix at 319-273-4TIX, or visit the UNITix Office which is located on the Eldon Miller Plaza at the north end of the McLeod Center, for more information. Tickets are also available online by going to the Panthers’ official athletics website at www.UNIPanthers.com.
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