Preview: Indiana State at Northern Iowa in Missouri Valley Women’s Basketball CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (Interstat) — Two Missouri Valley Conference teams looking to steady their seasons will meet Thursday when the Northern Iowa Panthers host the Indiana State Sycamores in a women’s basketball matchup at McLeod Center. Northern Iowa (11-12 overall) enters with a slight edge in the standings and will look to defend its home court after dropping its last two contests. The Panthers fell 70-58 to Belmont on Saturday despite a strong rebounding performance from forward Elise Jaeger, who grabbed 11 boards. Jaeger has been a consistent interior presence, posting a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds in a win at Drake on Feb. 1. Indiana State (8-15) arrives seeking to snap a two-game skid after a 75-85 home loss to Bradley. The Sycamores have shown recent flashes, including road wins at Evansville and Valparaiso in late January, but have struggled with consistency. A key matchup will feature versatile guards Kennedy Claybrooks of Indiana State and Northern Iowa’s Jaeger, who facilitates much of the Panthers’ offense from the forward spot. Claybrooks is coming off a well-rounded performance against Bradley with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes. She nearly recorded a triple-double in a Jan. 29 win at Valparaiso, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Northern Iowa’s offense will look to rebound from a 47-point outing in a loss at Bradley. The Panthers will rely on secondary scorers like Ryley Goebel and Jenna Twedt, who each had 15 points in the loss to Belmont. For Indiana State, support for Claybrooks will need to come from players like Amerie Flowers, who posted 12 rebounds against Bradley, and Samiyah Briggs. The game is the first of two regular-season meetings between the teams, with a rematch scheduled for March 5 in Terre Haute. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CST Thursday.