Gopher women survive #12 Syracuse 72-68

The Minnesota Gopher women made hard work of defeating Syracuse at Williams Arena Thursday night but, hey, THEY BEAT #12 SYRACUSE 72-68. The Gophers led most of the way. Syracuse led 2-0, then took the lead 57-55 at 4:43 of the 4th, and led by as many as 6 at 61-55 at 3:36 as the Gophers turned it over on 5 consecutive possessions. The Gophers, who got just 14 minutes and 2 points from their bench, looked winded while Syracuse, who got 80 minutes and 26 points from their bench, looked fresh. It looked pretty bad for the Gophers.

Instead, after a Minnesota timeout, Destiny Pitts drained a 3 and Kenisha Bell scored a couple of layups and a FT after a block and a defensive rebound, a steal, and another defensive rebound, all by Annalese Lamke. All in all, it was a 12-0 run, and Bell then added 3 more points for a total of 11 in the 4th quarter. The "hard work" comment is a reference to 5-of-10 FT shooting down the stretch, as a result of which Syracuse was still within 69-65 at 25 seconds. But a FT by Lamke and 2 by Taiye Bello iced it.

The Gophers ran out to a quick 21-9 lead in the 1st by shredding the Orange's full court pressure defense for innumerable fast break baskets. Syracuse abandoned the full court D for most of the 2nd and 3rd periods and clawed its way back into the game by outshooting the Gophers. Syracuse ended up shooting 45 percent from the field, the Gophers 35 percent. But midway through the 4th quarter Syracuse' percentage was 48 and rising, the Gophers' 31 and falling. And, the Orange put their full court pressure defense back on, and now it bothered the tired Gophers a bunch. But Minnesota bounced back to outshoot Syracuse 50 percent to 44 in the 4th to hang on.

The Gophers made up for their poor FG shooting with volume, which is to say 23 offensive boards, 10 of them by Taiye Bello. That ended up reflecting not in FGA, however, but FTA--31 for the Gophers, just 6 for Syracuse. They also made up for any offensive deficiencies with a stalwart defense. Jasmine Brunson guarded Syracuse guard Tiana Mangakahia most of the day and held her to 5-of-19 shooting. At times she and guard Kiara Lewis penetrated to the rim too easily, but over the entire game Brunson, Bell and Pitts played a perimeter defense that bent but did not break, that was good enough, and got the job done. Meanwhile, the Gophers got inside a lot more than the Orange did, and thus their big edge in FTA.

Overall, it was a great win against a solid opponent. The Gophers overall seemed to be the quicker team. But, overall, the Gophers need very much to develop and use their bench, and their bench players need to give Lindsay a reason to do that.

Player of the Day--Kenisha Bell

Team of the Day--MN Gopher women

Coach of the Day--Lindsay Whalen