MU tops Northern Iowa

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Missouri Tigers outscored Northern Iowa by four points in each half and claimed a 69-61 win in the opening round of the WNIT on Thursday night.

With the win, the Tigers advance to face their old Big 12 rival Kansas State, which advanced with an 86-68 win against Akron on Wednesday. The Wildcats will host the Tigers at 2 p.m. Sunday.

It was a cold shooting affair Thursday, as the Tigers won despite shooting just 38 percent (23-of-60) from the field. UNI, meanwhile, connected on just 36 percent (21-of-59). Missouri had a 45-34 edge in rebounding and had a slight edge at the free-throw line, making 16-of-20 while UNI connected on 12-of-13.

The Panthers raced out to a 14-7 lead after 61/2 minutes, but the Tigers put together a 12-4 run and took the lead at 19-18 on a jumper by Jordan Frericks with 6:12 left in the first half.

The Tigers then ran the lead to seven points on two different occasions before taking a 29-25 lead into halftime.

Missouri never trailed in the second half, although UNI did tie it at 33 just 21/2 minutes into the second half.

The Tigers then started to pull away, taking their biggest lead of the game at 53-43 when Maddie Stock canned two free throws with 11:06 remaining.

Frericks had a huge game for Missouri (18-13), racking up 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Morgan Eye also had 14 points, while Stock added 12 and Lindsey Cunningham had 11.

Stephanie Davison had a game-high 15 points for UNI (17-15).