UNI women’s basketball engaged in a matinee battle against the Crusaders of Valparaiso University on Sunday, Feb. 10.

The Panthers left Indiana with a 64-56 victory led by the versatile forward, Bre Gunnels, and their leading scorer, Karli Rucker (14.1 ppg).

Gunnels notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Rucker had a team-high with 14 points and also brought down seven boards.

Rucker’s counterpart in the backcourt, Nicole Kroeger, scored 11 points, followed by eight points each from Abby Gerrits and Heidi Hillyard.

In a team effort, all nine Panthers scored, with three players scoring in double figures.

With the win, the short-handed Panthers walked away with their second-straight road victory after defeating Loyola in Chicago and Valpo in Indiana.

The two road wins advance the purple and gold to 15-8 on the season.

“For us to be able to go on the road and win two without Ellie [Howell] is a huge testament to this team,” said head coach Tanya Warren.

Megan Maahs, Rose Simon-Ressler and Kam Finley were all missing from the line-up for the Panthers.

Prior to the matchup, Warren listed the keys to a victory, “[We have] got to continue to rebound the basketball. I think for the most part we’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

Warren continued, “We [have] got to defend without fouling.  Then, obviously the big thing, we have to take care of the basketball, and we [have] got to get ourselves to the free throw line. We [have] got to get back to that.”

The Panthers hit on three of the four keys set out by Warren.

The battle on the boards was essential for the purple and gold edging Valpo on the glass, 44-31.

UNI dodged a bullet on Warren’s most important key, emphasizing, “We have to take care of the basketball.”

The Panthers turned the ball over 19 times, leading to 15 points off of turnovers by the Crusaders.

Up next, UNI seeks revenge against a Drake team that handed them an 88-64 blowout loss on Jan. 18. The Panthers look for their third-straight win on the road again when they take on the Drake Bulldogs on Friday, Feb. 15.