Do what again? Well, the won their 4th straight, which ain't bad. They beat Northwestern for the 4th straight time. And, well, they blew a big lead again. They led 37-24 at the half, at home, against a team they had beaten on the road barely a week ago. So, what happened? After 3, the lead was down to 50-42, still pretty safe right? It was still 54-49, but the Wildcats ripped off 9 straight points to go up 58-54 with just 59 ticks left on the clock.
After that it was all Gophers, 4-0 in that last minute. Destiny Pitts hit a quick bucket at 0:52, then Kenisha Bell grabbed a rebound and put it back up into the basket with just 8 ticks left to force OT. Elk River's Abi Scheid missed a pair of FT for Northwestern with 4 ticks left on the clock. Ouch.
In OT, the Gophers couldn't miss. Well, not literally but they made 4-of-6 FG and 7-of-8 FT for a 15-6 advantage. In OT they scored as many points or more as they scored in 3 of the regulation periods.
Bell is electrifying at times, like when she scored the bucket that forced OT, and agains scoring a pair of buckets in OT, and in pulling down 11 rebounds and adding 5 assists and 5 steals. MVP! MVP! But, she missed 11 shots and turned it over 7 times. Pitts picked up some of the slack, making 4-of-10 3s, scoring 21 points and adding 6 boards and 2 steals of her own. Jasmine Brunson continued to bounce back from a mid-season benching, making 5-of-11 shots and 4-of-6 FT for 14 points with 3 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals. Pitts and Brunson did combine for 8 turnovers.
Irene Perez continued her strong play of the past month with 8 points on 3-of-7 shooting, 2 boards and 4 assists. Taiye Bello continued to struggle shooting it, with 6 points, but she had 9 boards, 3 blocks and 2 steals. The Gophers played just 14 minutes off the bench as Annalese Lamke continued to struggle since coming out of the starting lineup in favor of Perez and that small, 4-out lineup. But, hey, the Gophers have won 4 with that lineup now.
Player of the Day--Kenisha Bell. 11 missed shots and 7 turnovers, but where would the Gophers be without her?
Team of the Day--Gopher women
Coach of the Day--Lindsay Whalen
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