CEDAR FALLS - Craig and Kathy Oney were the proudest parents in the McLeod Center Sunday afternoon.

Two of their daughters - Katelin and Alissa - played against each other in an exhibition basketball game that gave new meaning to the term sibling rivalry.

Katelin, 21, is a senior guard at the University of Northern Iowa, where she's helped the Panthers play in two straight NCAA tournaments. Alissa, 18, is a freshman guard at Maryville University, an NCAA Division II school in St. Louis.

They were on the same team briefly at Cedar Rapids Washington High School in 2008 when Katelin was a senior and Alissa, then a ninth grader, was promoted to the varsity for the state tournament. Other than that, they'd never played with or against each other in a game prior to Sunday's meeting.

"It was awesome, a lot of fun," said Katelin. "It's really weird that something like that gets to happen in a basketball season."

Northern Iowa has a much stronger team than Maryville and won the preseason game, 84-49. Both Oney girls played well, although there was a scary moment in the first half when Alissa dove into a pile of players for a loose ball and didn't get up, crying.

"She's a pretty tough kid, doesn't cry a lot," Craig said. "She was hurting. I got sick to my stomach."

Katelin has had three knee operations during her sports career, and for awhile it looked like Alissa may have injured her knee as well. As it turned out, Allisa said it was a "high ankle" injury that she was able to shake off. She returned to action in the second half and appeared to be all right.

"It hurts pretty bad, but I just had to play through it," she said. "We'll have to get it checked out later and see how it is."

Katelin didn't like seeing her kid sister on the floor in pain. "I was pretty nervous," she said. "That's the older sister protective instinct."

Katelin, a starting guard for the Panthers, drilled her first three 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Alissa, a reserve guard, finished with seven points and four rebounds.

They both wore uniform No. 2, and both of them played exactly 19 minutes. They guarded each other a few times on defensive switches, but Katelin is primarily a "2" guard (shooter) and Alissa is primarily a "1" guard (playmaker).

"It was fun playing against her," Alissa said. "Our team could have executed a little better, but I'm happy. It's really fun to have a little sister-big sister showdown. I enjoyed it."

Craig and Kathy Oney sat behind the Maryville bench on Sunday with their two other children. Jessica, 27, was a gymnast at Iowa State and is married with a child of her own. Jason, 16, is a junior at Washington and was a receiver on the football team this year.

Kathy wore a special shirt for the occasion, half-Maryville and half-Northern Iowa. She gave a red Maryville shirt and a purple UNI shirt to a friend and asked her to splice them together.

"I said, 'I would like you to cut these apart and then sew the two different colors back together,' " Kathy related. "She said, 'You want me to do what?' "

Katelin said her kid sister was never a nuisance or a nag when they were younger, even when Alissa wanted to tag along.

"Oh, no. She's a good sister. Growing up we would do a lot of things together," Katelin said.

"Even when I hit that shot on her down there today, she thought she fouled me and said, 'Oh, my bad.' We ran back and laughed together. She's awesome. I love her. She's really cool."

Opponents don't normally talk to each other in the days prior to a game, but that informal rule did not apply in this case. "We talk almost every day," Alissa said.

"It was fun, just being on opposite sides. I love her. She's just a great role model for me. She's obviously a great 3-pointer shooter. I've learned so much from her and I look up to her, so I like having her around."

They gave each other a hug on the handshake line after the game and said a few words. Katelin told Alissa "good game" and "I love you."

"We're all really close," Katelin said. "My family is really close."

Everybody left a winner Sunday, especially when Alissa was able to shake off her injury.

"It was a fun experience, watching the two of them on the court at the same time," Craig said. "I told a couple of people, if they turned all the lights out, I'd probably be glowing."

Kathy felt like a winner before the game was even played. She coached both girls in the Cedar Rapids Panthers AAU basketball program and is proud of how they turned out.

"The thing that was most important to me was when Maryville arrived in town, Katelin went to Alissa's hotel, picked her up and took her back to her apartment and cooked her a home-cooked meal," Kathy said. "That's the victory to me."