University of Minnesota Athletics
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM CLOSES 1999-2000 SEASON
3/7/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
GOPHERS SAY GOOD-BYE TO FOUR SENIORS - Four Gophers seniors completed their collegiate careers last weekend: Antoinette Blevins (Marion Junction, Ala./Keith), Moneeke Bowden (Bakersfield, Calif./South), Brandi Harris (Long Beach, Calif./Millikan) and Erin Olson (Mitchell, S.D./Mitchell).
OLSON GOES FROM WALK-ON TO LEADER - Erin Olson had an outstanding career with the Gophers. She joined the Gopher squad midway through her sophomore season as a walkon after transferring to Minnesota from Wyoming, earned a scholarship as a junior, and then as a senior served as a team co-captain. Olson led the team in scoring this season, averaging 11.4 points per game, and dished out 131 assists, becoming just the 10th player in Minnesota history to record over 100 assists in a season. She is seventh on the Minnesota career assists list with 248 and scored 534 career points (7.9 ppg.). In December, she was honored as a Big Ten Player of the Week, the first Gopher in five years to earn the conference's weekly award. A two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Olson earned her bachelor's degree last May in kinesiology but returned for her fifth year to play basketball and pursue a master's degree in sports psychology.
BOWDEN SAVES BEST FOR SENIOR SEASON - Moneeke Bowden saved the best basketball of her career for her senior season. She started 26 of 27 games for the Gophers and led the team in rebounding, pulling down 6.0 boards a game. Bowden finished her two-year Minnesota career with 396 points (7.3 ppg.) and 264 career rebounds (4.9 rpg.) in 54 games. Bowden tallied three double-doubles during the season, including career-high 23 points and 13 rebounds against Michigan. After transferring to Minnesota from Cowley County Community College, Bowden missed just one game in her Gopher career. Last summer, she was selected to the Big Ten All-Star Team that toured Europe. Bowden finished second on that team in scoring and rebounding. She is pursuing a youth studies, educational psychology and social work major.
HARRIS MADE HER MARK ON DEFENSE - Brandi Harris transferred to Minnesota after two seasons at Cowley County Community College. Harris played in 50 games in two seasons and started 15 contests as a Golden Gopher. Nicknamed "Cali," Harris played important minutes off the bench, especially in a defensive role, this season. She finished her career with 160 career points (3.2 ppg.). Harris is majoring in communications and marketing.
INJURY CUTS BLEVINS' SENIOR SEASON SHORT - Antoinette Blevins spent two seasons with the Gophers, transferring to Minnesota from Wallace State Community College. She started six games as a junior and began her senior season as the Gophers' starting point guard but her season was cut short by a knee injury. Blevins finished her career with 121 points (4.8) in 25 games. A sports studies major, Blevins was the 1999 recipient of the Eloise M. Jaeger Endowed Scholarship for Women Athletes in Education.
WE HAVE THE DOUBLE - With Minnesota's 75-71 overtime win over Michigan State to end the regular season, the Gophers accomplished their first double-figure victory total since the 1994-95 season, when the Gophers posted a record of 12-15. The Gophers' 3-13 mark in Big Ten play is also most conference victories since the 1994-95 season, when Minnesota posted a 7-9 record in league action.
PUTTING IN OVERTIME - Minnesota won two of its last five games of the season, both of them in overtime contests. The Gophers defeated Northwestern on Feb. 17 by a 76-67 margin, then downed Michigan State on Feb. 27 by a score of 75-71. Before the Northwestern win, Minnesota's last Big Ten overtime victory was five years ago, on Jan. 22, 1994 over Indiana.
THE FINAL COUNT - Rookie long-range jumper artist Lindsay Lieser (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) set the Minnesota single-season record for three-pointers made with her 64th trey of the season, late in the Iowa (Feb. 20) game. Lieser's total of 66 in 28 games broke the previous record held by Shannon Loeblein, who hit 63 treys in 27 games during the 1994-95 season. Lieser, who holds the Minnesota high school record with 338 three- point field goals, already ranks seventh on the Minnesota career list. The single-season list:
1.Lindsay Lieser 66 1999-2000 2.Shannon Loeblein 63 1994-95 3.Cassie VanderHeyden 62 1999-2000 THE SINGLE-SEASON TEAM RECORD FOR THREES - The long-ball combo of Lindsay Lieser and sophomore Cassie VanderHeyden (East Bethel, Minn./St. Francis) led the charge in the Gophers setting the Minnesota single- season record for three-point field goals. The Gophers connected on 154 treys in 28 games, smashing the previous record of 120 trifectas set by the 1998-99 team in 27 games. The three-point shot made up 31.9 percent of the Gophers' field goal attempts. Minnesota broke the single-season record for three-pointers made with five treys against Wisconsin (Feb. 3).
THE DYNAMIC DUO - The backcourt tandem of Lindsay Lieser and Cassie VanderHeyden combined to contribute 128 of the Gophers' 154 triples on the season. Between the two, they scored only 53 baskets in the conventional two- point fashion. In other words, 384 of their combined 549 points on the season, or 70 percent of their points scored, came from beyond the three-point arc.
THE SCORING LEADERS - Senior Erin Olson edged sophomore Cassie VanderHeyden for the honor of finishing the season as the Gophers' top scorer. Olson outscored her teammate by just five points (318 to 313), averaging 11.4 points per game on the season, to VanderHeyden's 11.2 points per contest average. A year ago, the Gophers ended the 1998-99 season without a single double-figure scorer.
OLSON TOPS IN ASSISTS AS WELL - Senior Erin Olson not only led the Gophers in scoring, but in assists as well. Olson's 131 assists on the season is the third-best single-season mark in Minnesota history. She finished fourth in the Big Ten in assists, dishing out an average of 4.7 assists per game. With 131 assists and 115 turnovers on the season, Olson was the only Gopher with more assists than turnovers. Olson ends her Gopher career seventh on the Gopher all-time assist list with 248.
LOOKING FORWARD TO A BRIGHT FUTURE - Kim Prince (Montgomery, Ala./Carver) proved she is a post player to reckon with in the future, as the first-year forward/ center tallied double figures in five of the last six games of the season. She averaged 12.6 points a game in the stretch, more than double her season average of 5.8 points per game. Prince's best performance was against Northwestern, where she scored 16 points, hitting 8-of-9 field goal attempts. She scored 14 points in both games against Wisconsin (Feb. 10) and Iowa, 13 against Michigan State and 10 versus Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament.
NOT JUST A SHOOTER - Sophomore point guard Cassie VanderHeyden served notice that she is much more than just a three-point shooter. VanderHeyden finished the season with statistics very much like Olson's. VanderHeyden was second in scoring at 11.2 points per game and assists with 95 (3.4 apg.). By the way, her three-point shooting wasn't bad either. Her 62 treys is the third-best single-season mark in Minnesota history.
TRIPLE DIGITS IN THREES - Guard Cassie VanderHeyden is second on the Minnesota career list with 118 three-point field goals. VanderHeyden knocked down the 100th trey of her young Gopher career in the game at Illinois on Feb. 6. Shannon Loeblein (1992-95) holds the career record with 133 three-point field goals. Loeblein, however, accomplished the record in 107 career games. VanderHeyden has played 54 games.
CARRY THIS RECORD INTO NEXT YEAR - Cassie VanderHeyden hit her last 20 straight free throws over the course of the last nine-plus games of the season, breaking the Minnesota record of 18 consecutive set by Cheri Stafford in the 1995-96 season. The record will carry over to the 2000-01 season. VanderHeyden ended her season making 26 of her last 27 free throw attempts, to improve her season percentage to a team-best 79.0 percent.
