Gophers Win Ugly; Travel to Northwestern

After an ugly 52-35 win over Indiana, the Gopher women’s basketball team hopes to continue to bottom-feed when they travel to Northwestern Sunday for their final conference regular season game.

Going into Thursday’s game against Indiana, the Gophers were ripe for a letdown after Sunday’s Senior Day victory over Wisconsin before a huge home crowd. The Gophers had already sealed their fate for a 4th place conference finish, but they were hoping to maintain their momentum going into postseason play, which begins with next weekend’s Big 10 Tournament in Indianapolis.

The 15th-ranked Gophers (21-6, 11-4) came out flat against Indiana. Plagued by turnovers, poor shooting, and Janel McCarville‘s foul trouble, the Gophers led by only 3 at the half against the conference’s 8th place team.

The Gophers held Indiana (10-16, 3-12) to only 11 2nd half points and 26% shooting for the game to defeat the punchless Hoosiers.

McCarville played only 24 minutes due to foul trouble and ended up with 7 points and 4 rebounds. Sophomore Jamie Broback picked up the slack with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Shannon Schonrock added 12 points; Shannon Bolden added 9 rebounds. Freshman Natasha Williams played one of her best games as a Gopher, grabbing 5 rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time.

The Gophers played before a cavernous crowd of 818. Indiana had drawn a home crowd of over 10,000 in its previous game against Purdue.

Northwestern Next. The Gophers complete their Big 10 regular season 2 p.m. Sunday against Northwestern (5-23,2-13) in Evanston. The Gophers defeated the Wildcats, 62-44, in their Big 10 opener, December 30, at Williams Arena.

Northwestern’s marquee victory this year was an upset win over Penn State. With only 2 conference losses, Penn State is playing for a share of the conference crown Sunday when it travels to Ohio State.

Notes and Observations:

• If the Gophers can win Sunday at Northwestern and if they can beat Purdue in the 1st game of next weekend’s Big 10 Tournament, they could expect to receive a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. If they lose either of these 2 games, they could slip to a 5th, maybe even a 6th seed. The Gophers would probably have to win the Big 10 tourney to move up to a No. 3 seeding.
• Gopher reserve Liz Podominick is still out with mono, but she’s expected to see action in the Big 10 tourney. In her absence, Natasha Williams and Lauren Lacey have received valuable playing time that could pay dividends next year.

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