The Panther women’s basketball team opened up a weekend of basketball against the Murray State Racers on Friday night. The Panthers started out strong in the first quarter with five unanswered points to start them off in a good position. Shateah Wetering started the team off with a 3-pointer and Maya McDermott closely followed with a steal that resulted in a layup. Murray State answered back with a 3-pointer to put them on the board, but the Panthers took off after that to go on a 7-0 run to boost them to a 12-5 lead early.
The Panthers continued their streak to go ahead by eight and make the score 17-9. UNI was able to make a 10-point run to further push themselves ahead and improve the lead to 18. Murray State answered with four points to make a small dent into the lead, but Kayba Laube finished up the first quarter with a layup to extend the lead to 29-13.
The Racers started out on a run in the second quarter going on an early 8-2 run against the Panthers. The Panthers quickly answered with a 9-0 run with help from McDermott and Grace Boffeli which helped boost the lead to 19 with a score of 40-21. Murray State answered with four points, but Emerson Green and McDermott quickly responded with back-to-back baskets to help boost the lead to 21. The Panthers finished the first half with a 9-2 run to go into halftime with a 55-29 lead.
The third quarter started off back and forth between the Panthers and the Racers with each team answering each other. Murray State had five 3-pointers as well at the Panthers with a pair to cut the lead down to 15 at 65-50. UNI was able to hold onto their 15-point lead at the end of the third quarter after back-and-forth buckets to keep the lead at 69-54.
The Panthers and Racers traded points back and forth through the first part of the fourth quarter. The Panthers obtained an 83-67 lead going into the last five minutes of the quarter. Laube and Cailyn Morgan both had 3-pointers going their way down the stretch for the Panthers to finish with a 20-point win of 95-75. Green had a career-high game with 23 points along with six assists and four rebounds. Laube and McDermott both had 20-points a piece in the win. Boffeli led with 13 rebounds, 10 points and two blocks as well.
The Panthers were back in action on Sunday against the Belmont Bruins. The Panthers started off strong with Green scoring nine points and McDermott following behind. The Bruins, though, answered with three straight 3-pointers followed by two more after a layup. Belmont held a four-point lead at 19-15 before the Panthers ended the quarter on a seven-point run to take the lead at 22-21 heading into the second quarter.
The Bruins started off strong with a 6-0 right away before a layup from Morgan ended that. The quarter was very back-and-forth which included two 3- pointers from Belmont to take a slight lead heading into halftime of 35-31. Points were traded at the start of the third quarter before the Bruins went on a five-point lead to put them ahead 45-38. McDermott answered with a three pointer and the Bruins answered with two free throws before Morgan had a pair of jumpers and Boffeli answered with one as well. Boffeli ended the third quarter with two free throws to cut into the Bruins lead of 56-49.
Rachael Heittola started off the fourth quarter with a basket before Boffeli answered with four straight points to get the Panthers within three at 55-58. The Bruins answered with a 3-pointer as well as McDermott answering for the Panthers with a jumper. Both teams had an and-one layup and several free throws along the way, but the Bruins came away with a victory of 72-67. Boffeli led with 15 points as well as 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. McDermott ended with 14 points and Green tallied 12 points in the loss. McDermott made history for the Panthers in this game as she scored her 1,000th career point for UNI. She becomes the 27th person in the history of the school’s existence to achieve this feat.
