TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – This Sycamore team seemingly refuses to quit. Indiana State pulled within three with less than three minutes to go and registered a season-high nine blocks but fell just short of claiming a comeback win in a 56-46 loss to Northern Iowa Friday night at the Hulman Center.
 
The Sycamores (8-14, 6-5 Missouri Valley) didn't make it easy on the visiting Panthers. UNI (12-11, 8-4) had a 19-point lead on the heels of a 22-0 run but that is when Indiana State's defense went into overdrive, holding the Panthers to just one field goal over the next 10 minutes as the Trees began to whittle away at the lead.
 
Northern Iowa would miss nine of their next 10 field goal attempts and commit four turnovers in that span as Indiana State would pull within five.  
 
"The full court press definitely helped," Indiana State interim head coach Josh Keister explained. "We got some steals and forced some turnovers. Northern Iowa is definitely a team that doesn't turn it over much but they had 20 turnovers tonight. We gave ourselves some extra possessions there. I think the fact that we started seeing the ball go in the basket mentally helps."
 
The strong defensive effort by the Sycamores was led by Regan Wentland's season-high five blocks while her seven rebounds were the most for her in over a month. As a team, Indiana State registered nine blocks and nine steals in the game. The Sycamores lead the conference in steals and rank third in the 10-team league in blocks.
 
"We scrapped," Keister said of his team's defensive effort. "We're taking more chargers now than we ever have. You have to do those things when the ball isn't going in some nights. When it's tough offensively, you have to make winning plays to keep yourself in it. Their kids did that tonight. We limited them to one shot for a while, we took some charges and we got some steals, we ran down some loose balls. Those are the plays you are going to have to make to keep yourself in games when you're not shooting it well."
 
Offensively, Indiana State was led by Wendi Bibbins' 14 points while Ashli O'Neal scored 10 points, all of which came in the second half.
 
But it was a sluggish second quarter that eventually doomed the hosts. Northern Iowa outscored ISU 21-6 in the second quarter and started their 22-point run – a run that started in the second quarter and stretched into the second half – as Indiana State held a 20-17 lead.
 
"For whatever reason we got a little flat in the last five minutes of the second quarter," said Keister. "When you play a good team like Northern Iowa, they really make you pay for it. We dug ourselves a little hole."
 
The Panthers would head into halftime up 33-20 and come out hot in the second half, shooting 43 percent during that run while only shooting 38.5 percent for the game. Defensively, the guests were troublesome and held the Sycamores to only 28.6 shooting from the field.
 
"They were definitely a team where they always put a body on you," Wentland said. "We couldn't get around that. At some point, especially there in the second quarter, we just got complacent and we weren't really going for it."
 
The main part of the rally came in the third quarter when the Trees would shoot 45.5 percent from the field.
 
"We are going to learn from that," Keister said. "I think we did in the second half. That part is going to help us. But just because you get beat on Friday doesn't change how Sunday." 
 
Northern Iowa's Kennedy Kirkpatrick led all scorers with 18 points, going 4-fort-4 from beyond the arc while Megan Maahs scored 15 and Ellie Howell added 11.
 
Indiana State returns to action on Sunday when the Sycamores host Drake at 2 p.m.
 
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