March 14, 2008

Final Stats

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -

The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team could not keep up with the blistering Evansville offense, falling 79-56 to the Aces in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Friday night in Family Arena. Evansville shot better than 50 percent through most of the game, including 11-of-21 (52 percent) from three-point range.

            Lizzie Boeck led UNI with 15 points, and Nicole Clausen finished with 14 points. Erin Brocka grabbed 10 rebounds for UNI.

            Robyn Jennings was one of four Aces to finish with double-digit scoring, collecting 19 points. Rebekah Parker finished with 16 points, and Shannon Novosel and Ashley Austin each added 10.

            The Panthers went on the board first on a baseline jumper from Traci Ollendieck, but Evansville rattled off nine straight points to take an early 9-2 lead. Nicole Clausen was able to convince a three to bounce in to end the Aces' run, but Evansville scored five straight points to stretch its lead to 14-5 with 14:20 on the clock.

            Erin Brocka connected on a layup to pull the Panthers within seven, but a three from Courtney Felke gave the Aces a double-digit lead, 17-7 with 13:20 to play in the period.

            Lizzie Boeck scored on the block, and Jacqui Kalin pulled up for three to pull UNI within five, 17-12 with 12:12 on the clock. Neither team scored for more than four minutes until Danielle Wubbens hit a mid-range jump shot to cut the Evansville lead to three, 17-14.

            UE outscored the Panthers 10-2 over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 27-16 with four minutes on the clock.

            Boeck hit a long jumper to cut the Panther deficit to single digits, 27-18, but Evansville scored eight straight points to extend its advantage to 35-18 with less than a minute remaining.

            Kalin knocked down a short jumper with 35 seconds left to send UNI into the break trailing, 35-20.

            Robyn Jennings hit a short jump shot and a three in Evansville's first two possessions of the second half to extend the UE advantage to 40-20. Clausen scored for UNI, but Evansville scored the game's next 11 points to stretch its lead to 51-22 with 14:20 left to play.

            The Panthers went on an 8-0 rally to cut the Evansville lead to 51-30 with 12:16 remaining. After UE's Kate Batey and Clausen traded threes, Evansville scored seven unanswered points to extend its lead to 63-37 with 10:09 on the clock. The Panthers were never able to cut their deficit to fewer than 23 points the rest of the way, and they trailed by as many as 31 points on the way to the loss.

            UNI finished 22-of-53 from the floor, including 6-of-25 (24 percent) from three-point range. The Panthers were 6-of-7 (86 percent) from the free-throw line.

            Evansville finished 26-of-55 (47 percent) from the floor, including 11-of-21 (52 percent) from behind the arc. The Aces were a perfect 16-of-16 from the free-throw line.

            The Panthers wrap up their season 13-18 overall.