The Big Game January 10--Minnesota Gopher women 83 Ohio State 74

The Gopher women ran out to a 50-31 half-time lead and extended it to 58-33 at 16:17 of the 2nd half. Good thing, too. The Buckeyes came roaring back, getting within 14 at 12:18 and, finally, within 10 at 1:20. By then, of course, it was too late, the Gophers having made 5-of-9 shots between 12:18 and 6:18, when they led 75-57. The Buckeyes' final push came up short.

Tayler Hill, Minnesota state high school champion in 2009, and Rachel Banham, Minnesota state high school champion in 2010, each scored 24 points, many of Banham's coming earlier and Hill's later. Kionna Kellogg and Micaela Riche contributed 33 points and 16 rebounds. Ohio State shot 52 percent but had 17 turnovers to just 10 for the Gophers, and Minnesota had 22 offensive rebounds to 8 for the Buckeyes. As a result, the Gophers got off 15 more FG attempts--each team finished with 27 FG. Minnesota also got off an extra 8 FT attempts and here the Gophers were more successful, hitting 28-of-33 versus Ohio State's 18-of-25.

Player of the Day: Reid Travis scored 47 points to lead the DeLaSalle boys over Breck 89-67. Coach of the Day: Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls, who bounced back from their loss at Centennial Tuesday night with a 90-64 shellacking of DeLaSalle, despite Tyseanna Johnson's 28 point for the Islanders. (Centennial, conversely, followed up its big win with a 67-47 loss at Osseo.)