The UNI women’s basketball team traveled to Des Moines last Wednesday for a matchup against Drake, falling by the score of 96-79. The Panthers fell down by as much as 19 points in the first half, proving to be too much to overcome. They drop to 8-8 on the year and 5-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play. UNI’s leading scorer was Cynthia Wolf with 18 points, shooting 8-11 from the floor and had two rebounds. She was followed by Maya Mcdermott with 15 points on 6-9 shooting with two assists as well. Junior Megan Maas had 12 points, five rebounds, and two blocks.

Leading the charge for Drake (who are also 8-8 on the season) was Grace Berg who has 21 points on 8-16 shooting with seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Drake’s Kierra Collier was second in scoring with 17 points, two rebounds and three assists.  The Bulldogs shot 56% from the floor as opposed to the Panthers shooting 44%. Perhaps the biggest difference in the game was Drake shooting 55% from beyond the arc while UNI only shot 27% from three. The Bulldogs also capitalized on turnovers with 23 points off takeaways as opposed to UNI only having 14 points off turnovers.

The next game for the Panther women’s basketball team will be on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. hosting Evansville in the McLeod Center. The Purple Aces are 5-9 on the season and are coming off a win against Indiana State.