Gophers Prepare for Sunday Showdown at Penn St.

The Gopher women’s basketball program has never won a game at Penn State. With 10 straight losses to the Nittany Lions, the 10th-ranked Gophers will face the only remaining undefeated team at noon Sunday in a game televised by Fox Sports Network.

The Gophers (16-3, 6-1) defeated Illinois Sunday, 80-68, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The Gophers led 80-49 when the Gopher reserves allowed a 19-0 run to the Fighting Illini starters to end the game.

Sophomore guard Kelly Roysland came off the bench to lead the Gophers in scoring with 19 points on 8 of 10 from the field, including 3 three-pointers. Fellow guard April Calhoun had a season-high 7 assists; point guard Shannon Schonrock scored 12 points on 4 of 6 from the field. Post player Janel McCarville clinched a share of the Big 10 Player of the Week award with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Forward Jamie Broback was also a key contributor with 12 points and 6 rebounds.

The Gophers have a chance to serve notice that they’ll compete for the Big 10 title if they can beat Penn State. Minnesota handed the Nittany Lions their only conference loss last year, as Penn State won the conference title with a 15-1 record. Penn State has another guard-oriented team this year, led by seniors Tanisha Wright and Jess Strom. Wright leads the conference in scoring with 20.2 points per game. She’s also an excellent defensive player. Strom is adding 14.9 points per game and leads the conference in assists at 5.3 per contest.

Penn State has been on fire in its past 5 games, outscoring opponents by 21, outrebounding opponents by 10, and holding opponents to a paltry 25 percent field goal shooting percentage.

Notes and Observations:

• The Nittany Lions have played 1 of the toughest schedules in the nation this year. The Gophers will be the 10th nationally-ranked Penn State opponent. PSU has already beaten 3 Top 10 teams (North Carolina, Ohio State, and Michigan State.) They also beat 2 other teams that were ranked when they played them (Iowa and Purdue).

  Penn State has also played and lost to nationally-ranked Baylor (91-70), Texas Tech (79-65), Duke (66-58), and Texas (84-69). All of these losses were road losses.

• The Gophers schedule is not favorable toward winning a conference title this year. They play Big 10 powers Penn State and Ohio State once each this year, with both games on the road. If the Gophers are going to contend for the Big 10 title, they’re probably going to have to win 1 of these 2 road games. I expect that the team that wins the conference title will have no more than 2 losses, especially since there’s such a gap between the conference’s 4 top teams (Penn State, Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State) and 4 bottom teams (Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.)
• Penn State is expecting its largest crowd of the year for Sunday’s matchup with the Gophers.
• Jennifer Brenden, who graduated from Minnesota’s Sauk Rapids-Rice High School, is a senior tri-captain for Penn State.
• Last year’s Big 10 freshman crop was a good one. Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue all had 1st year players who will make their mark on the conference by the time they are upperclassmen. Penn State may have had the best batch of freshmen, with Amanda Brown, Jennifer Harris, and Receina Russell, but then the hightly-touted 6’6″ Russell decided to transfer out of the program after last season. She apparently transferred because she wasn’t featured much in Penn State’s guard-oriented offense. With players like Wright, Strom, and All-American Kelly Mazzante, it’s not surprising that she wasn’t featured.

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