The Northern Iowa Women’s Basketball team got off to a very slow start Friday against the Evansville Purple Ace. The first half saw UNI shoot 26 percent from the field, while the Aces hit 32 percent of their shots. UNI hit six threes to Evansville lone make behind the arc, enabling UNI to lead the game 26-24 at halftime.

The second half saw the Lady Panthers storm on offense and lock down on defense. The Panthers shot 32 percent for the half, doubling up on the Aces 16 percent mark for the half. A solid 82 percent from the charity strip also pitched as UNI easily won 62-36, the second half was a 20 minute run by UNI, who outscored the Aces 36-12 in the two quarters.

Making her first start for UNI, freshman Guard Abby Gerrits made the most of her debut. She recorded 18 points and four rebounds in 26 minutes, all career highs. She led the game with those 18 points as well. However, the real star of the game came from the post.

Senior Hannah Schonhardt recorded her third double-double of the season as she put in 10 points and gathered in 10 boards too. Her one block also tied her for 10th in UNI’s history at 82 rejections.

Sophomore Ellie Herzburg’s nine points pushed her past the 500 point mark at 508, giving her an 8.6 points per game entirely off the bench. While the more well-known players didn’t perform at their top levels, this was still a good win as the load was distributed and 12 players got to see minutes.

UNI’s next home games come this Friday and Sunday against Bradley and Illinois State. Both teams are middle of the pack in the Missouri Valley.

Besides Drake and UNI, Illinois State is the only team with an overall winning record at 11-10. UNI will be trying to recreate their last streak and build momentum for the Feb. 24 showdown in Des Moines that could decide the regular season champ in the MVC.