CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Maya McDermott scored a career-high 37 points and Kayla Laube added 21 as Northern Iowa beat No. 8 Iowa State 87-75 on Wednesday night.
UNI's win marks the program's first over a top-10 ranked team.
The Panthers (3-1) trailed 53-45 with 7:36 left in the third quarter before going on a 31-7 run over the next 12:17.
McDermott continually cut through Iowa State’s defense, making 14 of 21 shots, including 3 of 4 3-pointers.
Audi Crooks led Iowa State (4-1) with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Addy Brown had 21 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, but 17 of those points came in the first half.
It was clear early that the Cyclones had no answer for McDermott. Their second-half offense was built around Crooks — she had 14 of Iowa State’s first 19 points as Brown went scoreless for more than 15 minutes to start the half. The Cyclones were also 2 of 11 from 3-point range in the second half.
The Panthers were playing their first game without senior forward Grace Boffeli, a first-team Missouri Valley Conference selection last season who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Saturday’s loss to Ball State. The Panthers kept Crooks from getting too many easy shots despite the Cyclones' height advantage inside.
Emerson Green and Laube hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter to give Northern Iowa a 64-55 lead. Green had missed her first seven shots before hitting her 3.
Iowa State came in having won 17 of the last 19 games in the series, including eight of the last nine played at Northern Iowa. The Cyclones were 38-4 against the Panthers when scoring 65 or more points.
Iowa State plays host to Drake on Sunday. Northern Iowa is off until Nov. 28, when the Panthers play Auburn in the first round of the Paradise Jam tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
