NORMAL, Ill. – Madison Weekly led all scorers with 23 points to help guide the visiting Northern Iowa Panthers to a 61-35 Missouri Valley Conference win over the Illinois State women's basketball team Sunday night on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
Colleene Smith scored a team-high nine points for the Redbirds (6-17, 4-8 MVC), while Viria Livingston and Brechelle Beachum brought down eight rebounds each for Illinois State. The Redbirds shot 19.2 percent (10-for-52) from the floor for the game, while Northern Iowa (15-9, 10-3) took advantage of its size by outscoring the Redbirds 32-10 in the painted area.
Northern Iowa scored on its first possession, but the Redbirds got two free throws from Smith and a 3-pointer from Livingston to take a 5-2 lead early. Weekly hit two threes during a 13-3 run that returned the lead to the Panthers. Katrina Beck ended a three-minute drought for the Redbirds with a layup, to cut the UNI lead to 15-10. Weekly then hit her third three of the quarter at the 1:09 mark, giving the Panthers an 18-11 lead, as Weekly finished the quarter with 11 points.
The Panthers started the second quarter on a 5-0 run and pushed their lead to 25-11. After a Livingston layup and two Shakeela Fowler free throws to start the second quarter, ISU was held scoreless for a stretch of over five minutes. The Redbirds did finish the half on a 5-2 run, but went into the break trailing, 33-21. Weekly scored 18 points to lead all scorers in the first half.
UNI's Jen Keitel scored the first five points of the second half, extending the Panthers lead to 38-21. UNI went on to outscore the Redbirds 13-7 in the third quarter and took a 46-28 lead into the fourth.
Trailing 51-30 in the fourth quarter with 7:22 remaining, Fowler hit a 3-pointer to cut into the Panther lead. ISU did not make another field goal the rest of the game.
The Redbirds will return to action this weekend, with road games at Loyola on Friday and Bradley on Sunday.
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