University of Minnesota Athletics
Sunday, December 13
Williams Arena
University of Minnesota
60
vs
77
Iowa State
Gophers Fall to Iowa State
12/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Despite 24 points by Kiara Buford, Minnesota lost a 77-60 contest to Iowa State on Sunday in Williams Arena. The Golden Gophers dropped to 7-4 on the season.
The first half was a physical battle resembling a heavy-weight boxing match. One team would attack and land a few punches, soon the other would fight back. Defense was the name of the game in the half as neither team could maintain a run of any kind.
Buford scored the Gophers’ first 11 points and finished the first half with 13, but she was the only Minnesota starter to hit a basket in the opening half. China Antoine and Zoe Harper kept the Gophers in the game scoring eight and six points, respectively off the bench.
Iowa State (7-1) scored the last five points of the half, including a three-pointer by Whitney Williams at the buzzer, to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.
Buford tied the score at 32-32 with a pair of buckets to start the second half. Cyclone leading scorer Alison Lacey shot an extremely long three-pointer in Iowa State’s next possession. The ball hit the rim, took a high bounce and found the bottom of the net to ignite an instrumental 8-0 Iowa State run which the Gophers were never able to recover from. Lacey scored 14 of her 23 points in the second half
Antoine, who finished with a career-high 11 points, hit her third three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to five points at 44-39 with 14:21 remaining. It was as close the Gophers would get. Lacey drew a foul on a three-point shot and knocked down all three free throws, then Denae Stuckey scored on an offensive putback and the Cyclone lead swelled into double digits.
Iowa State shot 57 percent from the field, and hit 16-of-19 free throws in the second half to keep the pressure on. The Cyclones finished the game shooting 81.2 percent from the line making 26-of-32 attempts.
Three Gopher starters were held without a field goal. Take Buford’s 8-for-17 shooting performance out of the equation and the remaining starters went 2-for-13 from the field.
“You can’t have three starters who were not able to score and beat a good team like Iowa State,” said a disappointed Golden Gopher head coach Pam Borton. “We thought we’d to able to take advantage of their young post players.”
Minnesota has one remaining game before a break for final exams and the Christmas holiday. The Gophers host Santa Clara on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The first half was a physical battle resembling a heavy-weight boxing match. One team would attack and land a few punches, soon the other would fight back. Defense was the name of the game in the half as neither team could maintain a run of any kind.
Buford scored the Gophers’ first 11 points and finished the first half with 13, but she was the only Minnesota starter to hit a basket in the opening half. China Antoine and Zoe Harper kept the Gophers in the game scoring eight and six points, respectively off the bench.
Iowa State (7-1) scored the last five points of the half, including a three-pointer by Whitney Williams at the buzzer, to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.
Buford tied the score at 32-32 with a pair of buckets to start the second half. Cyclone leading scorer Alison Lacey shot an extremely long three-pointer in Iowa State’s next possession. The ball hit the rim, took a high bounce and found the bottom of the net to ignite an instrumental 8-0 Iowa State run which the Gophers were never able to recover from. Lacey scored 14 of her 23 points in the second half
Antoine, who finished with a career-high 11 points, hit her third three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to five points at 44-39 with 14:21 remaining. It was as close the Gophers would get. Lacey drew a foul on a three-point shot and knocked down all three free throws, then Denae Stuckey scored on an offensive putback and the Cyclone lead swelled into double digits.
Iowa State shot 57 percent from the field, and hit 16-of-19 free throws in the second half to keep the pressure on. The Cyclones finished the game shooting 81.2 percent from the line making 26-of-32 attempts.
Three Gopher starters were held without a field goal. Take Buford’s 8-for-17 shooting performance out of the equation and the remaining starters went 2-for-13 from the field.
“You can’t have three starters who were not able to score and beat a good team like Iowa State,” said a disappointed Golden Gopher head coach Pam Borton. “We thought we’d to able to take advantage of their young post players.”
Minnesota has one remaining game before a break for final exams and the Christmas holiday. The Gophers host Santa Clara on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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