Peyton Kennedy (32) scored 19 points to lead Saint Louis to a WNIT win over Northern Iowa on Sunday. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

NCAA Women’s Basketball	1	2	3	4	Final
Northern Iowa (16-16)	17	10	17	20	64
SLU (19-18)	10	16	23	19	68

Nora Nichols
Staff Writer

ST. LOUIS, MO — Peyton Kennedy scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and added four assists and four steals to lead the Saint Louis University women’s basketball team to a 68-64 win over Northern Iowa in a second round game of the Women’s NIT, Sunday evening at Chaifetz Arena.

The Billikens, now 19-18 on the season, have advanced to the WNIT Super 16 and will play Purdue-Fort Wayne on Friday for the right to advance to the WNIT Super 8, which will be played next weekend.

This is the third time in program history that Saint Louis has made it to the third round of the WNIT.

On Sunday, SLU had a rough start and made just five of its first 17 shots to fall behind 17-10 at the end of the first quarter. From that point on though, the Billikens outplayed the Lady Panthers.

Northern Iowa went cold in the second quarter and made just four of the 16 shots it took. The visitors still held a 27-26 lead at halftime, but the game’s momentum had clearly seemed to shift.

That became especially clear in the third quarter, when Saint Louis powered past Northern Iowa to take its first lead since early in the first quarter.

The key stretch came at the end of the third, when the Billikens went on a 17-6 run to go ahead 49-44 heading into the fourth quarter. SLU never trailed again and led by as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter.

Northern Iowa did get as close as five points with 1:35 left and forced a turnover to get the ball back, which if it had scored would have made the game a one-possession game.

Fortunately for Saint Louis, it was able to force a turnover of its own — a steal by Kennedy, which she converted into a layup that gave the Billikens a seven-point lead again with exactly one minute left to play.

In that final minute, the teams traded points — a two-pointer for Northern Iowa and a pair of free throws by Saint Louis — but the key play was another steal by Kennedy that allowed the Billikens to run out the clock and salt the game away.

Along with Kennedy’s big night, Tierra Simon had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Billikens, while teammates Kennedy Calhoun and Julia Martinez both added nine points.

Northern Iowa 64

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
24	Laube,Kayba	*	36	5-9	5-8	0-0	0-5	5	4	2	2	0	2	15
42	Boffeli,Grace	*	26	4-5	0-0	1-2	3-4	7	4	2	4	0	0	9
13	Wetering,Shateah	*	22	3-6	1-3	2-4	3-0	3	0	1	4	1	0	9
00	McDermott,Maya	*	32	2-11	2-5	2-2	0-4	4	2	4	1	0	1	8
02	Morgan,Cailyn	*	29	3-7	1-3	0-0	0-1	1	2	0	0	0	0	7
22	Wharton,Taryn		21	4-9	0-0	2-2	1-0	1	1	1	1	0	3	10
05	Goebel,Ryley		19	2-4	0-0	0-2	3-4	7	1	0	1	2	0	4
32	Heittola,Rachael		14	0-1	0-1	2-4	0-3	3	1	2	2	0	1	2
23	Robinson,Bri		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	3-3	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	23-52	9-20	9-16	13-24	37	15	12	15	3	7	64

Saint Louis University 68

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
32	Kennedy, Peyton	*	34	7-17	2-5	3-4	4-4	8	3	4	2	1	4	19
12	Simon, Tierra	*	27	6-8	0-1	0-0	4-4	8	4	3	1	0	2	12
04	Calhoun, Kennedy	*	29	4-9	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	3	4	1	0	0	9
45	Gray, Brooklyn	*	34	2-8	1-4	1-2	1-4	5	3	1	0	0	1	6
00	McMakin, Kyla	*	30	2-11	0-1	2-3	2-2	4	0	0	4	0	0	6
11	Martinez, Julia		32	3-7	1-2	2-3	3-3	6	1	4	1	0	2	9
25	Shavers, Marcavia		6	2-2	0-0	1-1	0-1	1	2	0	1	0	0	5
02	Clegg, Camreé		7	1-1	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
35	Johns, Bri		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	27-63	5-15	9-13	15-20	35	16	16	10	1	9	68

2023-24 SLU Billikens Women’s Basketball Schedule

Date	Time	At	Opponent	Location
March 29, 2024 (Friday)	TBA	Road	Purdue-Fort Wayne	Fort Wayne, Ind.