Jan. 26, 2014

Box Score

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Troy Hambric finished with a double-double (25 points, 10 rebounds) for the third straight game but Northern Iowa held off Loyola, 70-59, this afternoon at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Panthers improve to 10-9 (6-2 Missouri Valley), while Loyola sees its three-game winning streak come to an end, falling to 8-11 (4-3 Missouri Valley).

Northern Iowa jumped out to an early four-point lead (10-6) at the first media timeout (16:53) after connecting on a pair of threes in the opening minutes. A deep three pointer from Katie Faught brought the Ramblers back to within two (12-10) before the homestanding Panthers ran off eight unanswered points to take a double-digit lead (20-10) following a three from Erin Dohnalek with 11:59 remaining in the first half.

The Northern Iowa lead fluctuated between 8 and 12 points before back-to-back baskets from Molly Crosby cut the Rambler deficit to six (34-28) with 2:20 left in the half. Faught drained another three to inch Loyola to within five before Madison Weekly scored to bring the Panther lead to seven (38-31) at halftime. Northern Iowa was red-hot from the field in the opening 20 minutes, shooting over 53% (16-of-30) and also connecting on a 50% clip (5-of-10) from beyond the three-point arc. Hambric led all scorers in the first-half with 13 points.

A Brittni Donaldson three pointer to open the second half quickly pushed the home side's lead back to 10 (41-31) before Becca Smith and Crosby answered for Loyola to once again claw the Ramblers to within (41-35) at the 16:52 mark of the half. Following a run that saw Northern Iowa pump its advantage back up to 12 (49-37), the Ramblers cut the margin to six again (49-43) after Hambric connected from the field on three consecutive possessions. That proved to be as close as Loyola would get though, as the Panthers pushed the lead back over ten shortly after and coasted to the final horn.

Hambric was outstanding again, extending her double-double streak to three games and scoring at least 20 points for the fifth game in a row. Crosby and Cate Soane each chipped in eight points as well for the Maroon & Gold. Stephanie Davison finished with 19 points to lead Northern Iowa.

The Ramblers return to action on Friday evening (Jan. 31) when they host Illinois State. Tip-off from Gentile Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.