In a weekend matchup against the Bradley Braves, UNI Women’s Basketball set a program record, recording their sixth game in program history with 100-plus points scored. The Panthers came out hot and did not let up the whole game.
The Panthers quickly got play going in the first quarter going on a 10-point run. UNI was able to keep things going and extend the lead to 17 before the first quarter was over. Six points added by the Panthers boosted them to a 23-point lead as they headed into the second quarter with a strong 34-11 lead.
The Braves cut the lead to 20 at the start of the second quarter and the Panthers quickly became a little quiet. The Braves continued to push and cut the lead to 16. The Panthers then answered on a run and quickly got the lead back to 29 and went into halftime with a 60-30 lead.
UNI continued to run in the third quarter right away extending the lead to 73-39. The Panthers continued on and got the score to 81-50 heading into the fourth quarter. Nothing was stopping the Panthers in the fourth quarter. A big run helped to urge them to an easy victory over the Braves with a final score of 105-59.
Grace Boffeli helped to lead the Panthers to victory, scoring 24 points in just 22 minutes of play. She was the offensive leader for UNI. She shot 78.6% from the floor (11-of-14) and finished just shy of her fourth straight double-double with nine rebounds. Emerson Green came in shortly behind Boffeli scoring 16 points and finishing 6-of-8 from the floor. Kayba Laube and Rachael Heittola also helped the Panthers out big. Laube recorded 15 points going 5-of-7 from deep. Heittola finished with 11 points and shot 3-of-4 on the afternoon.
The Panthers FG% was .677 which was double compared to a Bradley .375. They also excelled in 3FG% with UNI shooting .600 and Bradley just shooting .286. FT% was close with the Panthers coming in at .750 and the Braves coming in at .813. The Braves stood no chance against the Panthers when it came to rebounds as UNI had 43 and Bradley only had 13. UNI had 14 turnovers to Bradley’s 11 and the Panthers had six steals while the Braves had eight.
In scoring 34 points in the first quarter, the Panthers make history as scoring the highest amount of points in a quarter this season in an opening frame at a road contest. The Panthers also made history at Bradley, as they scored the most points in the first half at 60 in Renaissance Coliseum. With this being their sixth 100-plus point game, the last time they scored over 100 points was in the 2021–22 season against Graceland with a score of 110-34.
The 46-point margin is the largest margin of victory for the Panthers since the 2020-21 season when they played Evansville and had a 48-point margin in that game. The Panthers recorded 42 field goals in the game, which is a new program record for UNI. It was previously 41 in two different games against UIC and Marycrest. This victory was also UNI’s 700th program win.
The Panthers are back in action on Jan. 31 in a rescheduled matchup against the UIC Flames that is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+ or can be listened to on the Panther Sports Network.
