Game 11: Gophers @ Penn State (2-8-17)

The Wins Must Continue Until Fan Morale Improves:

Fresh off their overtime rout of Nebraska, the Gophers (3-7) travel to Happy Valley taking on the mysterious (please note PSU’s win versus Tennessee) Lady Lions (5-6). Sunday, in Evanston, Penn State let Nia Coffey rack up big numbers while overwhelming her Northwestern teammates earning their first B1G road win.

Teniya Page is the player to watch. She’s the only Lady Lion in double figures (18.3 per game) and nearly plays Carlie like minutes. Coquese Washington spreads the playing time; although that is partly necessity. Penn State is foul prone. Rebounding is by committee with no Lady Lion averaging over 10 rebounds/game in B1G play.

Last season, in early January, the Gophers won 98-85 at Williams Arena. Carlie Wagner scored a career high 32 points and Jesse Edwards a career high 22 points. For Penn State, Lindsey Spann scored 30 and Teniya Page 16.

If the Gophers step up their post play, this is a win. Although it would be nice if Hubbard was available; but concussion like symptoms didn’t sound promising.



B1G Wins: Iowa, 71-58; Wisconsin, 76-46; Nebraska, 86-68; Illinois, 82-66; @Northwestern, 75-58.

B1G Losses: Indiana, 89-70; @Rutgers, 61-45; @ Purdue, 64-51; @ Maryland, 89-83; @ Indiana, 72-66, @ Ohio State, 87-72.


Common Non-Conference Opponent: Penn State lost to Georgetown, 68-54.


Probable Starters:

Ashanti Thomas: 6’4” C So. (3.1 points/game) (14.4 minutes/game) Has fouled out of 3 B1G contests.
Amari Carter: 5’8” G So. (9.7p/game) (31.0 minutes)
Sierra Moore: 5’11” G Sr (9.9 p/game) (24.0 minutes)
Teniya Page: 5’7” G So. (18.3 p/game) (35.5 minutes)
Jaida Travasco-Green: 6’2” G Fr (6.7 p/game) (14.4 minutes)


Others:

Lindsey Spann: 5’6” G Jr (8.3 p/game) (20.0 minutes)
Kaliyah Mitchell: 6’2” F Sr. (6.8 p/game) (20.7 minutes)
Peyton Whitted: 6’3” F Sr. (6.6 p/game) (18.8 minutes)

Hubbard has played tonight and T. Bello is nearing a double-double with 12 & 7. Gophers trail 51-45 in the 3rd.

Carlie is 3-21 FG

overpass said:

Carlie is 3-21 FG

Click to expand...

She finishes with same 3-21 and 0-7 from 3.Bello steps up with 19 in 24 minutes played but this team is not good enough to survive a poor shooting performance by Wagner.

Even Carlie's one turnover was a costly unforced one at the end of the half.

Taiye Bello with 19 points and 8 rebounds. I'm not sure why she was subbed out some times; but still an excellent game. She shot terribly from the line 1-4 with the one being a banker.

Well, this one's on Wagner. 3-21 from the field. Her shots just weren't falling. Good games for Bell and T. Bello. Bell with 19 points, 6 assists and only 2 turnovers. Bello with 19 points and 8 boards. She might have done even better if she hadn't sat due to foul trouble. Good to see Hubbard back. 0 minutes for Fernstrom. Was she healthy? PSU a beatable team but not on an off-night for Wagner.

Good point, Iggy, on the subbing out of Bello especially in the first half. She came out twice at the weirdest times, both times when she was on a roll. And yes, Bello will have to work on her FT shooting, but I'm really liking the talent that is surfacing. Also, Brunson getting more minutes. Glad to see that. Edwards 1-4 from the field, missed a couple of chippies.

I need to look; but this may have been the shortest bench of the season:

Minutes Played (Starters in Parenthesis):

37 Bell
35 Wagner
26 Hubbard
25 Tinjum
24 T. Bello
18 Brunson
18 Edwards
17 Hedstrom

http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/020817aaa.html


Coquese Washington | Head Coach Penn State


Q: Minnesota has those two weapons in Carlie Wagner and Kenisha Bell. Was this another game where you can’t let the rest of the team beat you?

A: I think they’re pretty talented at a lot of positions, they’re just young, kind of like us. So you never know with a young team, how they’re going to perform, in particular on the road. I thought we did a really good job on Carlie Wagner, not letting her off. I thought we could have done a better job on Kenisha Bell, she got loose a few times, but really (Taiye) Bellow. She got them going, especially at the start of the game. She came out and hit a couple of big baskets for them and was big on the boards early in the game and I think that allowed them to get a little bit of confidence. They’re pretty talented, they’re just young.


Q: How much of a focus was put on rebounding and how do you feel the team performed on the boards tonight?

A: It was a huge focus coming into the game. We knew that they do a great job crashing the boards and they’re pretty long at a number of positions so it was definitely a huge focus. I thought the second half was much better than the first half. The first half, they kind of had their way with us on the boards, but we talked about it a lot at halftime and I thought our post players in particular, our fours and fives, did a really good job of trying to battle and box out and we ended up getting some big rebounds in the third and fourth quarter that allowed us to pull away a little bit.