Northern Iowa Panther Picked for Preseason All-MVC

The Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball survey of the league’s coaches, sports information directors, and media was recently conducted.

After becoming just the fifth Panther woman to earn three First-Team All-MVC selections, it comes as no surprise that Karli Rucker is considered a favorite to earn the award again in 2021-2022.

Last season for the purple and gold, Rucker put up 13.3 points and dished out 3.8 assists per game to lead the Panthers in both categories. She also led UNI in scoring the previous two years, posting 13.7 ppg in 2019-2020 and 15 ppg in 2018-2019. To add to the long list of accolades she's put together so far in her tenure in Cedar Falls, Rucker currently ranks seventh on the all-time scoring list with 1,429 career points in a Panther uniform.

Along with the preseason honors Rucker earned, the UNI women were picked to place third in the MVC this coming season.

After reaching the WNIT semifinals for the first time in program history, the purple and gold will return all but two members of last season's squad -- including all but one starter.

Next to Rucker will be Kam Finley -- who earned a position on the WNIT All-Tournament Team and was Rockford Region MVP and Emerson Green and Maya McDermott, who were both picked for the MVC All-Freshman team in 2020-2021.

Head Coach Tanya Warren in her will be in her 15th season leading the way at UNI with a 260-190 overall record.

This is the 9th year in a row that the Panthers have been selected at 3rd or better in the conference preseason poll.

2021-22 MVC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
1.) Missouri State (362)
2.) Drake (316)
3.) Northern Iowa (298)
4.) Illinois State (268)
5.) Bradley (209)
6.) Valparaiso (208)
7.) Loyola (193)
8.) Southern Illinois (161)
9.) Indiana State (102)
10.) Evansville (83)

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