Another Rout for Gopher Women

Pam Borton's Minnesota Gopher women picked right up where they left off in last Thursday's 86-51 shellacking of St. Cloud State. The victim was another NSIC team, this one from Bemidji State, and the result this time was a 92-50 win.

The Beavers actually jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Gophers roared back for a 13-6 lead as Katie Loberg scored half of Minnesota's 1st 6 buckets, 2 of them off the offensive glass. From there it was off to the races. Bemidji came within 17-15, but the lead went into double figures at 32-21 at 5:01. It was 46-32 at the half, and 58-38 at 15:21 of the 2nd.

The Gophers dominated every aspect of the game except 3-point shooting. Minnesota made just 1-of-11 long shots to Bemidji's 6-of-24. But from 2-point range the Gophers made 30 (of 36, 49 percent) buckets to just 8 (of 25, 32 percent) for Bemidji. The possession game was all Minnesota--22 offensive rebounds to 5, and just 8 turnovers to 21 for the Beavers.

Loberg, Kionna Kellogg, Sari Noga, Rachel Banham and Kiara Buford started for the 2nd time in as many games. Noga, Banham, Buford and reserve Leah Cotton now have played more than 20 minutes in each game, while Loberg has played 18 and 18. Banham, Buford and Cotton combined for exactly 80 minutes on Wednesday, and 74 today, so there's your 3-headed monster at the guard positions.

Kellogg played 25 points in Wednesday night's win over St. Cloud but, frankly, struggled. Today she played just 9 minutes and struggled some more. 3-year starter Jackie Voigt played 21 minutes today at the same position, the 4, and had a fine game with 12 points, 6 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Whether she is in the process of winning her spot in the starting lineup back remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Micaella Riche played 18 minutes on Wednesday and 15 minutes today; Brianna Mastey 11 and 16; Amber Dvorak 4 and 14; Shonte Clay 3 and 3; Nicole Mastey 3 and 3; and Alex Ionescu 2 and 3. So, with the exception of Kellogg and Voigt and maybe Dvorak, the roles appear to already be pretty well-defined.

Leading scorers after 2 games are Buford 17.5 ppg, Banham 14, Loberg 11 and Cotton 11.5. Loberg is the leading shooter at 9-for-17 and the leading rebounder with 15. Riche has 13 boards and Voigt 12. Banham has 10 assists and 6 turnovers, Buford 9 and 4, and Cotton 6 and 6; and Banham also has 6 steals and Buford and Cotton 5 each.

The Gophers are next in action on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the WBI Tip-Off at Daytona Beach, FL, where Arkansas, Florida State and South Florida will provide the opposition. They return to the Barn the following Saturday and Sunday for the Subway Classic. We will know a lot more about this team and its potential by the time of its tip-off against Binghampton in the 1st round.