University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Northwestern
Huge Second Half Propels Gophers to Victory
1/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Buford finished the game with 22 points, while Ellis-Milan enjoyed her finest outing of the season with 19.
This game couldn’t have been more the tale of two halves – Northwestern owned the first, Minnesota the second.
“What a second half by our team,” said Golden Gopher head coach Pam Borton. “Now if we can just figure out how to put two halves like that together we’ll be a pretty dangerous team.”
Northwestern (11-5, 2-3) shot the lights out in the first half of the game. The Wildcats made 11 of their first 14 field goal attempts, stats that included 6-of-9 from behind the arc. Guard Beth Marshall hit her fourth three-point field goal of the opening period with 5:51 remaining giving Northwestern its biggest advantage of 16 points at 37-21. The Wildcats led 41-30 at halftime.
Kicked off by two Buford steals resulting in lay-ups, Minnesota turned the tables in the second half using a 13-2 run to tie the score at 43-43 six minutes into the period.
The Wildcats halted the rally momentarily by scoring five straight points to take a 48-43 lead, but the Gophers answered quickly with a 14-1 run ignited by a Katie Ohm jumper at the 11:56 mark. Back-to-back baskets by Buford put Minnesota up 57-49 with 7:21 remaining. Three minutes later the Gophers took their biggest lead of the night, nine points at 61-52 with 4:44 left, when Zoe Harper collected a pretty bounce pass from China Antoine and banked home the short jumper.
Northwestern remained in striking distance late with two three-point plays off offensive putbacks. Kristin Cartwright’s three-point play with 50 seconds left brought the Wildcats back to within three points at 68-65. The Gophers ran down the clock then looked to Buford for a three-pointer off the left wing to seal the win.
Brittany McCoy, who started a school-record 112th consecutive game for the Gophers, also finished in double figures with 11 points. She added a season-high nine assists. Antoine started her fourth game and contributed a nice stat line of seven points, six rebounds, a career-high five steals and four assists.
Minnesota finished the game shooting 44.4 percent from the floor, 51.5 percent in the second half. Northwestern shot 28.0 in the second half after hitting a blistering 59.3 percent in the opening period.
Marshall shared scoring honors for the Wildcats with Cartwright with 14 points each. Marshall did not score in the second half. All-Big Ten center Amy Jaeschke was held to nine points.
Minnesota travels to Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 10, for its next Big Ten contest.
