UNI women’s basketball pulls away from Kansas City in WNIT first round

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa shot its way past Kansas City Thursday night at McLeod Center and punched its ticket to the second round of the WNIT with a 75-58 win.

UNI (23-10) and UMKC (23-9) combined for 42 points in the game’s first quarter as a fast-paced, high-scoring first 10 minutes set the tone for what became an uptempo game.

Roos leading scorer Naomie Alnatas — a first team All-Summit League selection — quickly made her presence felt, scoring 16 of her game-high 24 points in the first.

Despite Alnatas’ prolific first quarter, the Panthers kept pace with Kansas City, only trailing by two as Kam Finley scored eight and Karli Rucker chipped in five in the opening quarter.

Trailing 27-23 with just over eight minutes left in the second, UNI mustered a 14-4 run that included back-to-back three-point plays from Emerson Green and Rucker. Seven more points from Rucker along with a Nicole Kroeger 3 and buzzer-beating layup gave the Panthers an eight-point lead at halftime.

Second-quarter defensive adjustments continued to pay off for the Panthers in the second half as Alnatas was limited to only eight more points.

UNI center Grace Bofelli helped extend the Panthers’ lead to 17 by the end of the third with an eight-point quarter that sparked a 23-4 game-clinching run spanning the third and fourth.

Finley finished with a team-high 19 points and was joined in double figures by Rucker (17) and Green (13).

The Panthers play Drake this Sunday. The Bulldogs beat Missouri 83-78 in overtime.