University of Minnesota Athletics
GOLDEN GOPHERS CONCLUDE THE REGULAR SEASON WITH TWO HOME GAMES
2/16/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BROADCAST INFORMATION - Both games this weekend will be broadcast by KKMS Radio (980 AM) in the Twin Cities. Sunday's game against Wisconsin will be televised by Midwest Sports Channel, with Ryan Lefebvre and Lea Bergin-Olson on the call. KKMS will broadcast all of Minnesota's games at the Big Ten Tournament.
STARTING LINEUP - Minnesota made a significant change in its starting lineup at Iowa and Penn State. The Gophers started five players against the Hawkeyes and Lady Lions that had not started in the previous game against Michigan. Minnesota started Cassie VanderHeyden (East Bethel, Minn./St. Francis) and Mindy Hansen (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) at guard, Jackie Tate (Eufaula, Ala./Eufaula) and Theresa LeCuyer (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) at forward, and Moneeke Bowden (Bakersfield, Calif./ Cowley County CC) at center. It is likely that these five players will start the game Friday against Purdue.
HEAD COACH CHERYL LITTLEJOHN - Minnesota head coach Cheryl Littlejohn is in her second season as the Gopher leader and has a 11-40 (.216) record in her two-year collegiate career. Littlejohn served as an assistant coach at Alabama the previous three seasons. She also was an assistant coach at North Carolina State. Littlejohn played at Tennessee under Pat Summitt and won a national championship in three Final Four appearances.
ABOUT PURDUE - The No. 2 Boilermakers (23-1, 14-0) have won the 1999 Big Ten title and are now after Big Ten history. Purdue needs wins at Minnesota on Friday and Northwestern on Sunday to become the second team in history to finish the Big Ten season undefeated. The other team to accomplish that feat was the 1984-85 Ohio State Buckeyes. Purdue has won 21 consecutive games, losing its only game this season by one point at Stanford on Nov. 22.
Seniors Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs are the top two scorers for the Boilermakers. White-McCarty averages 20.8 points per game and shoots 49 percent from both 2-point and 3-point ranges. Figgs averages 15.5 points per game and shoots nearly 86 percent from the foul line. Purdue averages 78.8 points per game.
Head coach Carolyn Peck is in her second and final year as Purdue's head coach, as she will leave after the season to take over as the head coach for the Orlando entry in the WNBA. Peck is 46-11 (.807) in her two years at Purdue.
THE SERIES - Purdue leads the series, 22-10. The Boilermakers won the first meeting this season, 73-52, Dec. 30, 1998 at Mackey Arena. Erin Olson had 13 points to lead the Gophers in scoring. Purdue has won the last six meetings, including the last two games at the Sports Pavilion.
ABOUT WISCONSIN - The Badgers (12-12, 7-7) are in contention for a first-round bye in the 1999 Big Ten Tournament. It is not mandatory for Wisconsin to defeat Illinois at home on Friday and Minnesota at the Sports Pavilion on Sunday to finish fifth or higher, but it would certainly be helpful. The Badgers have the second-best home record in Big Ten games (6-1), but they have the worst road record in conference (1-6), with the win coming at Michigan.
Wisconsin is led by sophomore forward LaTonya Sims (17.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game) and first-year forward Jessie Stomski (15.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game). The last three Badger games have been overtime games, with Wisconsin winning the last two.
Head coach Jane Albright-Dieterle is in her fifth year as the coach of the Badgers and has a record in Madison of 90-50 (.643).
THE SERIES - The series is tied, 20-20. Wisconsin defeated Minnesota, 70-59, in the Big Ten opener for both teams Dec. 28, 1998. Cassie VanderHeyden had 21 points, including a season-high six three-pointers. Wisconsin has won eight of the last nine meetings, including the last three at the Sports Pavilion.
GOPHER REWIND: PENN STATE - The No. 15 Lady Lions used a 22-3 run to begin the second half and defeat the Gophers 88-56 on Sunday at Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa. Cassie VanderHeyden led the Gophers with 17 points, including four three-pointers. Andrea Garner had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Penn State, who had five players in double figures.
GOPHER REWIND: IOWA - The Hawkeyes ended the first half on an 18-6 run to take a 38-26 halftime lead and handled the Gophers 79-62 Friday in Iowa City, Iowa. Cassie VanderHeyden led the Gophers with 24 points, a career high and the most points scored by a Gopher this season. Amy Herrig scored 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for Iowa, which had all five starters score at least 11 points.
BIG TEN STANDINGS Conf. Home Road Overall x-Purdue 14-0 8-0 6-0 23-1 Penn State 11-4 6-2 5-2 19-6 Illinois 9-5 5-2 4-3 15-9 Ohio State 8-6 5-1 3-5 15-9 Michigan State 8-7 5-3 3-4 14-11 Wisconsin 7-7 6-1 1-6 12-12 Michigan 7-7 3-3 4-4 15-9 Iowa 6-8 4-4 2-4 11-13 Northwestern 4-10 1-5 3-5 10-14 Indiana 2-12 1-7 1-5 13-15 MINNESOTA 2-12 0-6 2-6 7-17 x-clinched regular season title BIG TEN UPDATE - Purdue is the 1999 Big Ten champion and the top seed in the 1999 Big Ten Tournament. Penn State has clinched a first-round bye, and Illinois can do likewise with one more victory. Minnesota will be the No. 11 seed unless they win at least one game this weekend. If the season were to end now, the Gophers would play No. 6 Wisconsin on Fri., Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. (EST). The Minnesota/Wisconsin winner would play No. 3 Illinois, if the standings hold. The home team is 44-34 (.564) after 78 Big Ten games.
ROBINSON CONTINUES TO LEAD - The hardest-working frontcourt player in America continues to lead Minnesota in both scoring and rebounding. Sonja Robinson is 5-11, and normally starts against players that are considerably taller than she is. That has not stopped her from compiling some impressive numbers for the Gophers. Robinson leads Minnesota in scoring at 10.5 points per game and rebounding at 7.3 rebounds per game. She set a career high with 20 points at Michigan State on Jan. 22. Robinson has established new career highs in a season with 253 points and 174 rebounds. Robinson has scored 10 or more points 13 times and has led or shared the lead in Gopher scoring nine times. She has four of Minnesota's six double-figure rebounding efforts this season.
HERE COMES CASSIE - Minnesota has a first-year player leading the Gophers in scoring for the Big Ten season. Guard Cassie VanderHeyden is averaging 10.9 points per game, helped by a career-high 24 points at Iowa on Friday and 17 points at Penn State on Sunday. She was the only player in double figures in either game over the weekend. VanderHeyden has scored in double figures in 10 games, eight of which have come in the Big Ten season. VanderHeyden is also Minnesota's team leader with 30 steals.
VANDERHEYDEN MOVES UP - Cassie VanderHeyden made five three-pointers against Iowa and four triples against Penn State, giving her 54 triples for the season. VanderHeyden jumped up to second on Minnesota's single- season three-point list and trails record holder Shannon Loeblein by nine three-pointers. The current list:
1.Shannon Loeblein 63 1994-95 2.Cassie VanderHeyden 54 1998-99 3.Jodi Olson 48 1989-90 4.Lea Blackwell 45 1988-89 5.Stacey Carver 43 1992-93 Sarah Schieber 43 1997-98 RING THE BELL - Kim Bell (Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn) blocked her 36th shot last Friday at Iowa. She is second in the Big Ten in blocked shots for overall games (1.71 per game) and conference games (1.86 per game). She has blocked 36 shots in 208 minutes this season, which averages to a block every 5.6 minutes per game.
BENCH STRENGTH - Minnesota's bench has been a source of strength this season, outscoring its opponents in 19 of 24 games. Last week, Minnesota's subs outscored the Iowa subs12-7, but was outscored by Penn State's non- starters 24-19. For the season, Minnesota's bench has an advantage of 609-397, an 9.2 point-per-game surplus.
WHAT'S NEXT - Minnesota will play in the 1999 Big Ten Tournament at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Gophers will play at either 6 p.m. (EST) or 8 p.m. (EST), depending on their seed in the tourney. All of Minnesota's games will be televised on AM 980 KKMS.
