STARKVILLE — Merit from this season aside, history wasn’t on Northern Iowa’s side.
Before this season, the Missouri Valley Conference earned more than one bid to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament 10 times and hadn’t accomplished the feat in the last three seasons. Forgetting that UNI had two top-25 Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) wins and eight top-100 RPI opponents, it had to question its postseason fate after losing to Drake in overtime on Sunday in the championship game of the league tournament.
Twenty-four hours later, UNI was in the tournament.
“Monday, to see our name get called,” UNI coach Tanya Warren said, “is really the thrill of victory.”
Given time to celebrate its bid and travel to Starkville, UNI (24-8) is focused on getting another victory at 11 a.m. Friday against DePaul (26-7) in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Humphrey Coliseum.
Warren was not the only one pleased to see UNI make the field. DePaul coach Doug Bruno, who watched film of UNI’s game against Big East Conference foe Creighton, saw a tournament-caliber team in the Panthers.
“I’m thrilled Northern Iowa is in this tournament,” Bruno said. “They earned the right to be in this tournament. … As tough as it’s going to be for us to go and play against them, I’m glad they’re in this tournament.”
Matching up with UNI means facing senior guard Madison Weekly, a three-year All-MVC player.
Weekly was the second-best scorer in the MVC as a junior (17.7 points per game) and the league leader in 3-point field goal percentage among players who took at least 100 of them. This year, her scoring has dipped by two points per game, but her assist total could nearly double after a good game or two in the tournament.
“This year, we needed to move her back to the point guard,” said Warren, noting Weekly played shooting guard previously. “That’s what a lot of people don’t understand. Madison’s one of those kids that has great ability with her versatility to not only score, but help those around her better. Her assist to turnover ratio (3.04) is outstanding when you consider she’s the focal point of everybody’s defense.”
Weekly’s position change was one piece to the puzzle left for Warren after losing four redshirt seniors in the offseason. Weekly was a pivotal one, but she needed help.
Enter Megan Maahs.
The freshman forward played 26 minutes off the bench in the season opener. Seven games later, she was starting. She has started every game since Dec. 10 and has morphed into one of UNI’s best rebounder, averaging 6.7 per game and leading the team with 94 offensive rebounds.
With a career-high 15 rebounds in the championship game of the conference tournament, she moved up to No. 15 in school history in single-season rebounding, the only freshman in that top 15.
“Megan was extremely important, and we expected Megan to play right away,” Warren said. “I’ve been asked, with her being a freshman, was it better for her to just get in and learn? In this instance it was. We needed her to play right away. She loves the challenge. As she continued to get her feet wet in terms of the physicality of the game, you could see her confidence rise and rise.”
Fellow forward Hannah Schonhardt feels Maahs is a hard worker who never takes a possession off.
“She’s willing to listen, and I think that’s the biggest part,” Schonhardt said. “She came in and she was ready. She was a sponge.”
Maahs is tied with Schonhardt for the team lead with 24 blocked shots, which ranks in the top 15 in the conference. Those blocks — and the 570 turnovers forced, ranking in the top 50 nationally in that category — have UNI entering the tournament with the nation’s 34th-best scoring defense, the best in the MVC.
“They lock into the scouting report in terms of how we want to defend opponents,” Warren said. “From game to game and in-game adjustments, our kids do a great job with what adjustments need to be made.”
UNI will put that defense to a test against DePaul’s high-tempo attack. Warren said she thought Drake pushed the pace better than anytime she had seen until she saw DePaul. UNI forced MVC champion Drake to overtime twice in three meetings, all losses. She said she feels confident in her team’s defensive approach given that recent experience, but neither team has committed to playing a fast-paced game Friday.
“I think it depends on the game and our flow as an offense,” Weekly said. “We have to be conscious of our shot selection because we know they want to run and get quick shots up. We’re going to have to take our good shots if we’re given them right away, but also work the ball because we know we can get one.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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