Gopher Basketball
The Gophers had a stumbling start Monday at Williams Arena, as the Cavaliers jumped to a 14-7 lead. The Gophers trailed 17-12 when McCarville went to the bench for the rest of the 1st half with 9:34 remaining. With the Golden Gopher faithful now hoping that their team could hold their own until McCarville could return in the 2nd half, McCarville’s underclassmen teammates outscored the Cavaliers 22-11 to take a 34-38 halftime lead.
With McCarville back in the lineup to start the 2nd half, the Gophers pushed their lead to double digits behind McCarville and star-in-training sophomore Jamie Broback. The Gophers established their physical superiority in the 2nd half behind McCarville, Broback, and April Calhoun.
The relentless and athletic Cavaliers then trimmed the Gopher lead to 45-38 when a legal bone-rattling mid-court screen by McCarville knocked Cavalier star LaTonya Blue into another dimension. Blue crumpled to the floor, where she lay among the ghosts of other McCarville screen victims throughout the year. Blue had to leave the game. She later returned with cobwebs. Moments later, however, McCarville picked up her 3rd foul and had to go to the bench again. Her teammates said, “Janel who?”, and went on a 10-0 run to seal a trip to Tempe.
Despite her foul troubles, McCarville still finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds. But it was her teammates who deserved top billing for their contributions. Broback, who has led the Gophers in scoring for 7 straight games, finished with 23 points. Shannon and Shannon, Schonrock and Bolden, finished with 11 and 10 points respectively. Defensive ace Bolden showed again that she’s determined to contribute offensively and on the boards with 4 rebounds and 4 of 7 shooting from the field.
April Calhoun scored only 1 point, but she pulled down 8 rebounds and dished out 7 assists. Calhoun also played a team-high 37 minutes, many of those minutes at point guard.
Liz Podominick and Kelly Roysland were major factors off the bench. Podominick contributed 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks. She gave the Gophers yet another physical presence against a more athletic, but less physical Cavalier team. Roysland, coming off a game in which she had 6 turnovers, added 7 points and 3 assists. She didn’t have a turnover in 22 minutes, despite handling the ball a lot against Virginia’s quick, aggressive defense.
The 3rdseed Gophers will now travel to Tempe, AZ for a meeting Saturday against 2nd seed Baylor. Baylor, the Big 12 regular season and conference tournament champs, easily defeated Oregon, 69-46, on Monday.
A preview of this game will follow on this site later this week.
Notes and Observations:
- 4th-seeded Penn State, the Big 10’s 3rd place team, once again underachieved in the NCAA tourney, when they lost to 13th-seeded Liberty on Sunday night, 78-70.
- The Williams Arena crowd of 10,043 was loud and enthusiastic, I think. My seats were immediately in front of 3 pre-teen girls who must have thought they were auditioning for the soundtrack of a horror flick. If you need a further description of what it was like, you can look up any of the following words in Webster’s Dictionary: shrill, shriek, screaming banshee.
- Arizona State will join the Gophers and Baylor in the regional this weekend at Tempe, AZ. ASU is led by point guard Kylan Loney, the daughter of new Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Steve Loney. She scored 20 points in the Sun Devils’ win Monday over 4th-seeded Notre Dame. North Carolina, the No. 1 seed in the region, is likely to be the 4th and final team to earn a spot in the Tempe regional. North Carolina plays George Washington tonight. A North Carolina win would set up an intriguing matchup between them and ASU on Saturday. ASU, playing before its home fans, might have a shot at upsetting the Ivory Latta-led Tar Heels.
Talk about the game on our Gopher Basketball message board.