Gopher Basketball
In Sunday’s game, sophomore Liz Podomonick came off the bench to score 20 points to lead the Gophers to a win over the defending NIT Champion Blue Jays. Podomonick was 7 of 8 from the field, including 2 of 2 from 3-point range.
The Gophers held a comfortable 34-19 lead at the half, but they allowed 52 second half points. Creighton, a team that had averaged over 30 3-point attempts a game going into the game, was just 1 of 4 in 3-point attempts against the Gophers. Creighton cut the Gophers lead to 67-60 with 4:14 to play, but Gopher post player Janel McCarville responded with 6 straight points to build the Gopher lead to 13.
McCarville finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 blocks in 35 minutes of play. The Gophers had 5 players scoring in double figures, with Jamie Broback adding 14, and April Calhoun and Kelly Roysland adding 10 each.
Shannon Bolden, a starter for the Gophers in the first 4 games, did not play Sunday. She’s out with an ankle injury and is listed day-to-day.
Katie Alsdurf, a junior transfer from Marquette and Forest Lake High School, saw her first action of the year after returning from a foot injury. Alsdurf scored 5 points in 14 minutes.
Notes and Observations:
- The Gophers (4-1) were again plagued with turnovers, with 20 against Creighton.
- As they did against Virginia Tech, the Gophers allowed Creighton to chip away at a big lead, creating some anxious moments at the end of these games. The team has show flashes of brilliance at times during the young season, but they’ll have to develop a “killer instinct” as the season progresses or they’ll let some games get away.
- In struggling down the stretch against Creighton, the Gophers weren’t able to get some of their bench players in the game, including the team’s four first-year players.
- The Gophers should be expected to up their record to 6-1 with games against the University of Detroit Mercy Titans and Kansas University Jayhawks.
- Detroit Mercy has a 1-2 record, with a 69-56 win over Yale after opening the season with losses to Cincinnati (60-31) and to Bradley (78-75). The Titans return 10 letterwinners and 3 starters from a team which last year finished 10-6 in the Horizon League and advanced to the finals of the conference tournament before losing to future Gopher opponent UW-Green Bay.
- Kansas, with new coach Bonnie Henrickson, has a 2-1 record and is expected to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks lost their opener 53-49 to University of Texas-Arlington and then posted wins over Sacred Heart (59-48) and University of Missouri-Kansas City (47-36). Henrickson, a respected coach who came to Kansas after 7 years as head coach at Virginia Tech, is a native of Willmar, MN and played her college basketball at St. Cloud State. Her name was mentioned briefly in some circles as a possible replacement for Brenda Oldfield when Oldfield left for Maryland. She’s expected to rebuild a Kansas program that has not been competitive in the powerful Big 12, but it probably won’t be this year.
- Mark your calendars for December 14, when the Gophers entertain LSU. A fellow participant in last year’s Final Four, LSU could be the top-rated team in the nation when they visit Williams Arena for a nationally-televised game.
- Iowa, not expected to be a top 5 Big 10 team, upset No. 21 ranked Oklahoma this weekend.
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