Illinois State gets past UNI to take over 1st place in MVC women’s basketball race

CEDAR FALLS — In a fight for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball race, Illinois State edged Northern Iowa, 72-70, at McLeod Center Thursday night.

Trailing 55-48 entering the fourth quarter, UNI (17-7, 12-3) gained its first lead of the game 24 minutes and 48 seconds in when Emerson Green grabbed a steal and went coast-to-coast for a go-ahead layup.

The Panthers and Redbirds (19-6, 13-2) then traded six leads and tied four times in the final 5 minutes, 12 seconds.

Illinois State’s Paige Robinson — who entered Thursday night as the MVC’s second-leading scorer at 19.2 points per game — punctuated a 26-point performance with a go-ahead contested jumper that banked in and gave the Redbirds a 70-68 lead with 56 seconds to play.

“We did a terrific job on Robinson the first (game) and obviously we didn’t do as good a job this time,” UNI coach Tanya Warren said of a 74-64 Panthers win on New Year’s Day. “She has great poise. She makes the right reads. She shoots the 3 well, she gets to the rim, she can shoot the pull-up (jumper) and it was just a matchup nightmare.”

UNI’s Kam Finley quickly answered with a crossover dribble past a Redbirds defender that led to a driving layup to re-tie the score with 32 seconds remaining.

Robinson got the ball back in her hands for a final possession but missed a driving jump shot, but Kate Bullman was there to grab her team-high ninth rebound of the game, was fouled by Finley and promptly sank what came to be a pair of game-winning free throws. UNI’s Maya McDermott saw her desperation 3-point attempt miss wide right at the buzzer.

A cold-shooting first quarter gave the Panthers an early deficit. UNI finished the first 10 minutes 4-for-19 from the field while the Redbirds made three 3s and 10 of their 17 field goals to gain a 23-15 lead.

After trimming Illinois State’s lead to four at halftime, UNI struggled to keep pace once again in the third quarter, allowing four Redbirds 3s, a pair of layups and five throws to enter the fourth down by seven.

Bullman and Maya Wong joined Robinson in double figures with 13 and 12, respectively.

McDermott led UNI with 17 points while Grace Boffeli added 16, Green scored 15 and Finley finished with 12.

“It was a great game. We showed a lot of heart getting back into the game,” Warren said. “We have to be pissed off until midnight and then we have to come back and get ourselves ready for Bradley. And continue to control what we can control.”

UNI travels to Bradley (3-23, 0-15) Saturday a 2 p.m. tip-off at Renaissance Coliseum.