University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Host St. Mary's in Rare Monday Game
11/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game 8
Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-1)
vs.
St. Mary’s College Gaels (1-6)
LOCATION Williams Arena (14,625) - Minneapolis, Minn.
DATE / TIME: Monday, Dec. 1 / 7 p.m.
TELEVISION: none
RADIO / WEBCAST: KBEM 88.5 FM / Gopher Radio Network / gophersports.com
Corbu Stathes (Play-by-play), Lynnette Sjoquist (Color Analyst)
Golden Gopher Watch List Dec. 1, 2008
Golden Gophers Host St. Mary’s in Rare Monday Game - Minnesota plays host to St. Mary’s College on Monday, a rare Monday non-conference contest. The Golden Gophers will be playing their third game in four days, coming off a title-winning performance and victories over Drexel and UMass at the Colorado Coors Classic last weekend in Boulder, Colo. Minnesota, winners of the last six games, is 6-1 overall.
Fox Earns Second MVP Award - Senior Emily Fox was named the MVP of the Colorado Coors Classic, her second most valuable player award of the season. Fox averaged 18.5 points and 4.0 assists in the Classic.
Ellis-Milan Named to All-Tourney Team - Ashley Ellis-Milan joined Emily Fox on the all-tournament team. Ellis-Milan notched points/rebounds double-doubles in both games in Colorado.
Big Ten/ACC Challenge Up Next - Minnesota will host Boston College on Thursday, Dec. 4, in the BIg Ten/ACC Challenge. The game is the Gophers’ first appearance on the Big Ten Network’s schedule of live web streamed games. The game will be broadcast live over the web at bigtennetwork.com.
Gophers Host St. Mary’s on Monday
Minnesota continues a busy schedule with a home game on Monday against St. Mary’s College. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. in Williams Arena. The Golden Gophers returned home at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning after winning the title in the Colorado Coors Classic over the weekend. Minnesota, winners of six straight games, owns a 6-1 record. St. Mary’s is 1-6 on the season coming off a loss to Indiana in the title game of its own tournament in Moranga, Calif., last weekend.
Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Thursday
Minnesota welcomes Boston College to WIlliams Arena on Thursday for the second year of the BIg Ten/ACC Challenge. The game will be video-streamed live on the Big Ten Network’s website - bigtennetwork.com.
Gophers Collect Second Tourney Title
Minnesota added the championship trophy for last weekend’s Colorado Coors Classic to the hardware from winning the Subway Basketball Classic two weeks ago. The Gophers have now won two early-season tournament titles in a season four times under head coach Pam Borton (2002-03, 2003-04, 2005-06 and 2008-09).
Fox Collects MVP Honor in Home State
The trip to the Colorado Coors Classic was a special one for Gopher senior guard Emily Fox. Fox, a Colorado native, had the chance to play in front of her family and friends in her home state and she made the best of it, leading the Gophers to the team title and earning the Classic’s Most Valuable Player honor. The MVP award is Fix’s second of the season and third of her career. She averaged 18.5 points and 4.0 assists per game in the Classic, topped by a 24-point, 6-assist effort in the title game versus UMass.
Double-Doubles Land Ellis-Milan on All-Classic Team
Gopher center Ashley Ellis-Milan joined Emily Fox on the Colorado Coors Classic all-tournament team. Ellis-Milan notched double-doubles in both games, with 13 points and 10 rebounds versus Drexel, and 11 points and a season-high 14 rebounds in the title game against UMass. She has three double-doubles on the season and 15 in her Golden Gopher career. Ellis-Milan has also collected double digits in rebounds in five straight games.
An Ovation Due to Ohm
Katie Ohm’s performance in the Colorado Coors Classic championship game was definitely worthy of all-tournament team consideration. Ohm scored a career high with 20 points, including six three-pointers made. The Gopher guard hit three huge triples in the second half, scoring 14 points in Minnesota’s victory over UMass.
Ohm Hits Century Mark in Three-Pointers
Katie Ohm’s six three-pointers in the win over UMass propelled the Gopher junior over the century (100) mark for three-point field goals made. Ohm, currently with 103 treys, is the seventh Golden Gopher to hit trifecta triple digits. The Big Ten’s most accurate long-ball threat from a year ago, Ohm has netted three or more three-point field goals in five of the Gophers’ seven games this season. She leads the Big Ten making 3.0 three-pointers a game this season and with 21 threes made has made seven more triples than her closest conference competitor.
Oh What a Half of Basketball It Was...
Minnesota needed a big half to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit against UMass. What the Gophers responded with was an exceptional half of basketball. The list of highlights is a long one:
58 points scored the most scored in a half is 69 points vs. IPFW (11-21-02)
  11-of-19 from three five different Gophers hit a three-point field goal in the half
4-of-5 from three Both Katie Ohm and Emily Fox go 4-for-5 from three-point range in the half
Emily Fox scores 18 points Fox hits a big three for the Gophers’ first points of the half, then 15 mores points to finish the game with 24 points
   Rebounding dominance the Gophers dominate the glass with a 23-7 rebounding margin
  O-board big the Gophers grabbed two offensive rebounds on their first possession of the half before Emily Fox hit the big three to ignite a 10-0 scoring run. Minnesota finished the half with 11 offensive rebounds to just one for UMass
9 and 9 for Ashley That’s nine points and nine rebounds, five of them offensive, for Ashley Ellis-Milan
Lucky 7 Brittany McCoy dished out seven assists and finished with 10 in the game
Takeaways a Big Part of the Game Plan
Minnesota is using its defense to fuel its offense. The Gopher “D” has forced opponents in an average of 22.0 turnovers a game in 2008-09. Over 40 percent (30 points) of Minnesota's 74 against Drexel were the result of Dragon turnovers.
Something About 17
A fun trend for the Gophers this season revolves mysteriously around the number 17. In six games so far this season, the Gophers’ leading scorer(s) have totaled 17 points five times: Emily Fox and Katie Ohm versus Santa Clara, Ohm versus North Dakota State, Fox versus Yale and now Kay Sylva versus Drexel.
Sylva Simply Sensational
Senior Kay Sylva is known for her defensive prowess, after all, she was the Gophers’ Defensive Player of the Year last season. In back-to-back games versus Yale and Drexel, however, Sylva was a force on the offensive end of the court, posting new career scoring in both games. Sylva scored 12 against Yale, making 6-of-7 shots from the floor. She continued her aggressive looking for the basket versus Drexel, tallying 17 points on 5-7 from the field. That was an average of 14.5 points per game and a 78.6 shooting percentage for of 29 points a total that nearly surpassed her total points from last season (31). Sylva contributed five points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in the Gophers’ win over UMass in the Colorado Coors Classic title game.
Pitching the Second Shutout of the Season
Minnesota held Drexel without a second-chance point in the Gophers’ win last Friday, marking the second time this season that Gophers pitched a shutout on the defensive glass. The other game was at Santa Clara.
Rookie Comes Up Big On “D”
Freshman forward Jackie Voigt drew the assignment of defending Drexel’s prolific scorer Gabriela Marginean and passed the test with flying colors. Voigt set the tone for the Gophers in the first half playing 18 minutes matched up with Marginean, who entered the game averaging 29.5 points a game. Marginean managed to score just two points in that half when Voigt was on the defense. Frustrated the entire game, Marginean finished with 15 points, half of her season average.
