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University of Northern Iowa forward Erin Brocka scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the second half Sunday to help the Panthers secure a 71-52 victory over the University of Evansville women’s basketball team at Roberts Stadium in Evansville.
Brocka was instrumental in a 14-5 Northern Iowa run midway through the second half which turned a three-point Evansville lead into a six-point UNI cushion. She began the run with two layups within 28 seconds of each other as the Panthers scored six straight points to turn a 40-37 Evansville lead into a 43-40 UNI advantage.
Evansville would cut the lead back to one-point on two different occasions with the last coming on a layup by freshman center Samantha Heck with 9:12 to play to cut UNI’s lead to 45-44. The Purple Aces offense would go cold after that though, as UE was held without a field goal the rest of the way and Northern Iowa cruised to the 71-52 victory.
“I thought we played very well through the first 30 minutes, but we had two breakdowns offensively and we just never could recover after that,” said UE head coach Misty Murphy. “It’s disappointing because we did a lot of good things through the first 30 minutes and we let a good opportunity slip away today.”
Brocka and K.K. Armstrong led the Panthers both scoring 15-points each. Guards Jacqui Kalin and Danielle Wubbens joined them in double-figures for UNI with 12 and 11 points each. Kalin also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds for the Panthers.
Senior guard Amy Gallagher led Evansville with 14 points on the strength of 8-of-11 shooting from the free throw line. Heck joined Gallagher in double-figures for UE with 13 points and a team-best seven rebounds.
Northern Iowa improves to 10-12 overall and 6-5 in the MVC with the victory. Evansville meanwhile slips to 4-18 and 1-10 in the Valley with the loss. Evansville will now hit the road beginning on Thursday night as the Purple Aces will travel to Des Moines Iowa to take on Drake at 7:05 p.m. Thursday’s game can be heard on 91.5 F.M.-WUEV.
