The Northern Iowa women take the number four seed into this week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in the Quad Cities. After a 1-9 start to an injury plagued season the Panthers posted a 14-6 Valley record.

That’s UNI coach Tanta Warren. The Panthers open Friday afternoon against the winner of Thursday’s game between Illinois State and Evansville.

Warren says the Panthers have battled adversity to get to this point.

The Panthers were the preseason Valley favorites and enter the tournament having won six of their last seven games.