University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Radford
Gopher Women's Basketball Wins Subway Classic
11/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The No. 16/17 Minnesota women's basketball team cruised to the title in the Subway Basketball Classic on Sunday, defeating Radford by a score of 93-53. The Golden Gophers improved to 2-0 on the season.
One night after their head coach Pam Borton watched her Golden Gopher team score a school-record 116 points, she saw what your squad could do when they had both their offense and defense clicking in the same game. It was also one game after the first-year Minnesota coach was displeased with her team giving up 73 points to IPFW.
"I was very pleased with our defense tonight," said Borton. "We were focused and our intensity on the ball was a lot better. We are well on our way to becoming an unbelievable team this year." "We wanted to redeem ourselves defensively," added Gopher senior C orrin Von Wald. Defensively, the Gophers improved drastically, allowing 53 points to Radford. Offensively, led by tournament MVP Von Wald and all-tournament team member L indsay Whalen, the Golden Gophers continued their torrid offensive production.
Von Wald scored her career high for the second straight game, tallying 23 points on a school record 10-for-10 shooting from the field. She missed just one shot in the entire tournament going a combined 16-for-17 from the floor.
Only Von Wald's perfect evening could outdo the efforts of Whalen, who led the Gophers with 26 points scored in 26 minutes. Whalen went 8-for-10 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free throw line. In the two tournament games, Whalen scored 49 points in 51 minutes of action.
The Golden Gophers darted to an 8-0 lead, the first three buckets by Von Wald, to start the game and never looked back. By halftime, Von Wald already had 18 points and the Gophers led by a 45-23 cushion. Minnesota shot 56 percent in the half, while Radford committed 16 first-half turnovers.
The second half was a carbon copy of the first, as the Gopher lead ballooned to as large as 43 points at 84-41 with 7:45 remaining. While the Highlander offense struggled, finishing the game shooting 37 percent from the field, the Gophers ran an efficient attack, evidenced by their 15 assists credited to 16 baskets in the second period. The half also included a 15-0 scoring burst by the Gophers and just five Minnesota turnovers.
Senior center K im Prince chipped in 10 points as the third Gopher in double figures. In told, 11 of 13 Minnesota players scored. T anisha Gilbert came off the bench to contribute a career-high eight assists and added five steals.
Radford (1-1) was led by Plymouth, Minn., native Amanda Neby, Sherri Rickman and Brandy Allen with 10 points apiece. Neby and Rickman were named to the all-tournament team.
IPFW (1-1) defeated Savannah State (0-2) in the consolation game by a score of 86-46. IPFW's Amy Gearlds and Savannah State's Tiffany Stephens were named to the all-tournament team.
Minnesota plays its next five games on the road, starting Wednesday at Loyola (Ill.). The Golden Gophers then travel to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., for a tournament next w
