CEDAR FALLS, Iowa—While the temperatures outside might have been below zero on Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the host University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team was red-hot, as the Panthers shot a season-best 52.2 percent from the floor on its way to a 99-67 victory over the visiting University of Evansville Purple Aces at the McLeod Center.

 

Northern Iowa hit its first five shots to overcome a quick start by Evansville and build a 14-9 lead by the first media timeout. UNI would not see its shooting percentage drop below 60.0 percent until over eight minutes had elapsed, with the Panthers holding a 25-17 lead. UNI would quickly return to form though, hitting six of its next seven shots to build a 39-19 lead with 6:20 to play on a Jacqui Kalin lay-up. The Panthers would hold at least a 17-point lead the rest of the way.

 

Reserve freshman forward Amber Kirschbaum paced the Panthers’ attack with a career-high 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor. Junior center Lizzie Boeck also pitched in 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including going a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor in the first half to lead UNI’s 53-point first-half blitz.

 

Sophomore guard Jordan Lewis paced UE with a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. Freshman forward Meagan Collins also reached double-digits for the first time in her UE career with 13 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the field, while senior guard Amy Gallagher added eight points, six assists, and four steals.

 

Evansville equaled a season-high with 49.1 percent shooting from the floor (28-for-57), but UNI made eight more field goals in 12 more attempts thanks to forcing 21 Evansville turnovers and holding a 40-25 edge on the glass. UNI turned those advantages into 24 points off of turnovers and a 15-2 edge in second-chance points. The Panthers also went 20-of-21 from the free throw line (95.2 percent) to hold a 20-7 edge in points from the foul line.

 

With the victory, Northern Iowa extends its home-court winning streak to four games, while improving to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville, meanwhile, drops to 3-11 overall and 0-3 in the Valley. Evansville will now return home to host league-leading Creighton on Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m. in the annual Future Purple Aces Fast B.R.E.A.K. (Basketball Reinforcing Education to Area Kids) game. Thursday’s game can be heard live on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.