Panther women’s basketball split two MVC games on the road in Indiana, falling to Indiana State 63-65 and defeating Evansville 67-49 on Thursday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 15, respectively.

The Panthers led the Indiana State Sycamores 29-26 at the half on Thursday night and quickly gained a 12-point lead in the third quarter. Megan Maahs led the Panther offense with 15 total points and eight rebounds. Karli Rucker followed with 14 points.

The Sycamores came out shooting in the fourth and stole the lead 48-42. While the Panthers outrebounded the Sycamores 40-27, they allowed 21 turnovers and came up short two points at the end of the game.

“We’re going to have to continue to understand the importance, and you probably don’t think that we understand it even though it’s something that we preach, but understand the importance of each possession, and value in each possession, because we’re beating ourselves,” said head coach Tanya Warren. “We’ve played some really good teams but we’re also beating ourselves with our inability to understand the importance and the value of each possession and to give ourselves a chance. So that’s something that we will continue to talk about.”

The Panthers bounced back from the loss and defeated the Evansville Aces for the 13th straight time on Saturday night.

“This time of the year, the mental part of the game is extremely important,” said coach Warren.

UNI led only 10-8 at the end of the first quarter, but were quick to pull away in the second with a 9-0 run before the half. Leading 29-19, they continued their impressive play and outscored the Aces 38-30 in the second quarter.

UNI outrebounded Evansville 48-37 and recorded 17 assists. Karli Rucker led the team offensively with ten points and eight assists. Nicole Kroeger and Bre Gunnels each recorded nine points and Maahs followed with eight.

The Panthers return home this week for a pair of MVC matches. They will take on the Illinois State Redbirds on Thursday, Feb. 20 and the Bradley Braves on Saturday, Feb. 22. They are now 15-9 overall and 7-6 in conference play.