Gopher, Hawkeye Women Open Exhibition Season with Easy Wins

The Minnesota Gopher women opened their exhibition season with an easy 90-58 win over Minnesota-Crookston yesterday afternoon. Leah Cotton (16), Brianna Mastey (14) and Katie Loberg (10) scored in double figures for the Gophers, while Loberg also led the team with 4 blocks and 3 steals. Freshman Kionna Kellogg came off the bench to grab a team-high 9 rebounds, while senior China Antoine led the way with 7 assists.

Among the Gophers freshmen, Kellogg added 6 points and a steal to those 9 boards, but also turned the ball over 4 times in 15 minutes of action. Micaella Rich had 9 points and 4 boards in 11 minutes. Sari Noga scored 8 points in 15 minutes, and Shonte Clay contributed 3 points and 3 boards in just 2 minutes. Red-shirt frosh Amber Dvorak had 1 point and 1 board in 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, as a yardstick for the young Gophers, the arch-rival Iowa Hawkeyes took on a vastly superior exhibition foe in Concordia-St. Paul and prevailed 101-59. Kelly Krei scored 25 for the Hawkeyes, including 6-of-8 from 3 point range. Center Morgan Johnson added 20 points and 11 boards. Kachine Alexander, formerly of Benilde-St. Margaret's, posted a double-double with 13 points and as many rebounds. And point guard Kamille Wahlin, from Crookston, MN, scored 17 points while adding a team-high 8 assists.

Iowa roared out to a 25-5 lead and never looked back, though Concordia got within 36-21, but Krei hit a 3 and Iowa extended its lead to 47-23 and then 52-30 at the half. Jineen Williams led the Bears with 23 points.