I've never seen anything like this in my life. A Gopher team outscoring a Big 10 opponent on the road 20-2 in the game's final 10 minutes. But that is what Lindsay Whalen's Gopher women did to Purdue last night. Up 45-43 going into the 4th quarter, they hung an 0-fer on the Boilermakers, as in 0-for-11 shooting for the quarter, and the Gophers coasted to a 65-45, well, it was darn near a laugher in the end.
And, more than that, it was the Gophers 5th straight win after losing 7-of-8, including 64-53 to Purdue at home just 3 weeks ago, you know, in the bad old days.
One thing that's happened is Destiny Pitts found her shooting stroke. She made 10-of-12 last night for 27 points and outscored Purdue all by herself in the 2nd half. Kenisha Bell did her thing, which included 17 points, 9 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals (oh, and 7 turnovers and 10 missed shots). Still, she is the straw that stirs the drink.
Too bad the Gophers have road games remaining at 1st place Maryland and 3rd place Rutgers. They've got to beat Penn State and Michigan State at home to finish 9-9. Right now you'd have to think that leaves the Gophers tied for #7-#8-#9 in the Big 10, so those tie-breakers are going to be very big. If we're #7, we probably get a beatable Nebraska team in the 2nd round, then #2 Iowa in the 3rd. In that scenario, the Gophers probably end up 9-9, 20-9, then 1-1 makes it 21-10 and still only the #7 Big 10 team in the NCAA pecking order. That is probably not going to be good enough. So a win at Maryland or Rutgers or a win over Iowa in the Big 10 tournament is probably needed at this point to get off the bubble and into the NCAA tournament.
Player of the Day--Destiny Pitts
Team of the Day--Gopher women
Coach of the Day--Lindsay Whalen
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