The Iowa State women’s basketball team lost to the UNI Panthers on Wednesday night 87-75. It was a shocking loss for the No. 8 team in the country, who led at halftime, before the Panthers dominated the third quarter 23-11 to roll to a win.
But it was Fennelly’s comments after the game that stood out, when he said, “We could have played a little bit better. We’re playing a good team on the road, Like I’ve said forever, these in-state games are really hard, that’s why the men don’t play them, and we do. And like I said before the game, this is ridiculously stupid scheduling on my part to play this game. But we want to do it. We think it’s good for basketball in our state.”
Here’s the full clip from Cyclone Fanatic‘s Connor Ferguson.
For the record, the Iowa State men’s team has not played UNI since 2017. And from 2009 to 2017, the Panthers won four of the six meetings between the two teams.
Related: Big 12 Women’s Basketball Power Rankings After Week One
As for Wednesday night, Maya McDermott scored 37 for the Panthers on 66.7 percent shooting from the field in the win.
Iowa State extend their lead to eight early in the second half, but then the Panthers fought back. UNI cut the lead to just 53-51 at the third quarter media timeout. UNI continued their run out of the timeout, earning a three-point advantage with 2:15 left in the third. They ended up taking a 64-55 lead into the fourth quarter, and never looked back on their way to the 12-point victory.
Emily Ryan led Iowa State with six assists and managed a season-high 13 points with three 3-pointers. Ryan’s school record total moves to 824 dimes and she is four points from matching Heather Ezell’s for the all-time 18th best Cyclone point total.
Iowa State is 4-1 on the season and next plays Drake on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
