Northern Iowa faced the No. 3 team in the country, Maryland, Friday night on the road and suffered a loss to the 2006 National Champion, 91-37.  Missouri State, fresh off its first win of the year, fell at home to Saint Louis as the Valley suffered an 0-2 night in women's hoops.

No. 3/6 Maryland 91, Northern Iowa 37
The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team could not keep up with No. 3/6 Maryland, falling 91-37 Friday night in the Comcast Center. Maryland shot 55.4 percent (36-of-65) from the floor, while the Panthers were held to just 26.3 percent (15-of-57) percent shooting.

Traci Ollendieck led UNI with a season-high 14 points. Lizzie Boeck finished with eight points for the Panthers. Five Terrapins scored in double figures, led by Marissa Coleman with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

The Panthers (4-3) were held scoreless on their first seven possessions, while Maryland (12-1) came up with points on six of their first eight trips down the floor, building a 13-0 lead with 15:59 remaining.

Erin Brocka put the Panthers on the board with a jump shot in the paint at 15:30. Clausen drained a three from the left baseline to cut Maryland's lead to single digits, 13-5.

Kristi Toliver answered with a three at the other end, and Lizzie Boeck scored for UNI to bring the score to 16-7 in favor of the Terrapins.

Toliver hit her second three of the game, but Alexa Mennen scored on a pass from Jacqui Kalin to pull UNI within 10, 19-9 with 12:06 on the clock.

The Terrapins went on an 18-0 run over the next six minutes to build a 37-9 lead.

Traci Ollendieck hit a deep three to end the Panther scoring drought and bring the score to 37-12 with 5:35 left in the half.

Ollendieck helped the Panthers keep pace with the Terrapins through the rest of the half, hitting her second and third threes of the game in the final three minutes of the period. A fast-break jump shot from Kalin closed out the half with UNI trailing, 48-22. 

Maryland scored the first 10 points of the second half to extend its lead to 58-22. Brocka scored UNI's first goal of the half to make the score 58-24 with 16:05 to play.

The Terrapins outscored UNI 26-4 over the next eight minutes, stretching its lead to 84-28 at the seven-minute mark. The Terrapins maintained at least a 51-point lead the rest of the way.


Saint Louis 69, Missouri State 51
On a night that saw Missouri State honor its two Final Four teams from 1992 and 2001, the Saint Louis Billikens did most of the celebrating, coming away with a decisive 69-51 victory over the Lady Bears to halt a three-game losing streak in women’s college basketball action Friday (Dec. 7) evening in Springfield.

The Billikens dominated the post throughout, shooting a season-high .533 from the field, while outrebounding MSU by a 41-29 margin and outscoring the Lady Bears 42-20 in the paint to improve to 3-6 on the season.

Sophomore guard Theresa Lisch led the way for the Billikens with a 17-point, nine-rebound effort in her first game of season after missing SLU’s first eight games due to injury. Sophomore center Amanda Kemezys also posted a strong performance, totaling 16 points to go along with six rebounds.

Missouri State started the contest on the right foot, grabbing an early seven-point lead after Tiffany Coppage nailed a three-pointer at the 9:45 mark. Maggie Dwyer scored seven of her 12 first-half points in the first eight minutes of the game, as the Lady Bears jumped out to an 18-11 advantage.

But MSU could not take advantage of SLU’s 16 turnovers in the opening stanza and left the door open wide enough for the visitors to climb back into the game. The Billikens outscored the Lady Bears 19-7 over a nine-minute stretch and grabbed a 30-27 halftime lead on the strength of a 26-16 advantage in points scored in the paint. Kemezys and Maggie Hennegan combined to go 8-of-11 from the floor in the half and Saint Louis converted 13-of-19 field-goal attempts as a team.

The Billikens extended their advantage early in the second half by outscoring MSU 19-8 over the first 10 minutes of the period to build a 14-point cushion. MSU never really got its offense in gear after the break, shooting just .273 from the floor after intermission in falling to 1-7 on the year.

The Lady Bears were able to cut the deficit to eight points on a pair of free throws from Dwyer with just over eight minutes remaining, but the Billikens got a three-pointer from the left corner from Lisch and never looked back. Lisch tallied 15 points in the second half alone, including 12 in the final 6:54. Kemezys matched her first-half performance with eight points to finish with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.

Dwyer finished with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and Roxy Stiles turned in a 10-point night to lead the Lady Bears, who shot just .328 (20-of-61) from the field and made only 9-of-33 field-goal attempts in the second half.