Game 2: Gophers @ Rhode Island (11-13-17)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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A Road Trip to Rhode Island

Minnesota travels to the Rhode Island Colony to take on the A10 Rams who were picked to finish 13th in the 14 team A10. Rhode Island is 1-0 on the season after defeating U Mass Lowell 81-64. Previous to the opener, Rhode Island eked out an exhibition win versus D2 NYIT 77-76.

Last season, the Rams led by Daynia La-Force (in her fourth season) were a disappointing 6-23 (2-14 in conference). They vow this season will be different. The Rams have height:

6’5” So. Center Nicole Jorgensen had 15 points and 7 rebounds against Lowell.
6’5” Jr. Center Dina Motrechuk posted 4 points and 3 rebounds in 13 minutes
6’3” Fr Forward Megan Oberg scored 5 points along with grabbing 9 rebounds

The leading scorer was 5’7” guard Elemy Colome with 19 points followed by 5’11” Fr Guard Amy Streeter with 17 points.

Of note: Against Lowell the Rams committed 24 turnovers and shot 11-24 from behind the arc. One mystery is that Charise Wilson, generally considered Rhode Island’s best player, did not play against Lowell after playing in the exhibition.
 

Struggling with 5-19 FG (Wagner 0-5) but tied 15-15 after 1.
 


A sweep in RI for the bball teams tonight! 82-60 Gophers win! Bell with a near triple double -- 22 pts, 10 rebs, 8 assists.

61 total rebounds :eek: Pitts had 15 of them, Kaposi 8.
 

Almost a triple-double for Bell with 22 pts, 10 rebounds, 8 assists. 15 boards for Pitts. 8 boards for Kaposi in limited minutes. VCU next.
 


http://www.gorhody.com/sports/w-baskbl/2017-18/boxscores/20171113_zoyr.xml?view=boxscore


It sounded like a tedious (to be kind) first half. Fortunately, Bell, Brunson and Pitts got after it and the Gophers rebounded for the win. It helped that Edwards provided some semblance of an inside game. Minnesota won the rebounding battle 61-33.

34 points in the first half and 48 in the second. Bell was 10 of 18 from the line and the Gophers were 20-33.


Starters (same as game 1)

Kaposi
Edwards
Bell
Wagner
Hubbard


Minutes Played

37 Wagner
34 Bell
32 Pitts
24 Hubbard
20 Edwards
20 Brunson
10 Fernstrom
8 T. Bello
7 Kaposi
5 Gonzalez
2 Lamke
1 Perez
 

It should be noted that Rhode Island's starting post player, Dina Motrechuk, scored 13 points on 6-9 shooting and grabbed 7 rebounds in 14 minutes before fouling out. Post defense remains a concern.
 

I don't know why Kaposi didn't play more. She did have an amazing 8 rebounds in her 7 minutes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
I don't know why Kaposi didn't play more. She did have an amazing 8 rebounds in her 7 minutes.
Click to expand...

It was interesting. The two wing players, Kaposi and Pitts combined for 23 rebounds and were 7-8 from the foul line (Kaposi was 2-2). From the field Kaposi was 1-4 (I think there were a couple of missed layups) and Pitts was 1-7 (0-4 from three). Maybe defense had something to with it.
 



Kaposi is very athletic and seems to be very active when she's on the floor. Hasn't shown much scoring ability, at least not yet. It's going to be interesting to see how Stollings juggles the rotation this year with all the players she has. I'm still hoping that she uses the non-conference schedule to determine some semblance of a set lineup or rotation. I was also surprised that Gonzalez played only 5 minutes vs. RI.
 

Here's a couple of happy teams returning to Minnesota.

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