University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Minnesota Crookston
Minnesota Cruises to Exhibition Win Over UMC
11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The University of Minnesota women's basketball team had its final tune-up for the regular season on Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena, defeating UM Crookston, 90-58, in an exhibition game.
The teams got off to a slow start in the game, with junior guard Brianna Mastey scoring the Gophers' first points at the 16:27 mark to tie the score at 2-2. But that sparked a 10-0 run for Minnesota, with Brianna Mastey scoring five points during the run to open an eight-point lead, and the Golden Gophers never looked back.
Following a three-pointer by UMC's Jamie Zelinsky cut the Golden Gophers' lead to 10-5, Minnesota went on a 9-0 spurt to extend the advantage to 19-5, with junior forward Katie Loberg tallying six points in that stretch, and Minnesota twice pushed the lead to as many as 22 points on its way to a 39-21 advantage at halftime.
Brianna Mastey had nine points at the break, while Loberg and sophomore guard Leah Cotton each had eight points in the opening 20 minutes. Freshman forward Kionna Kellogg had a game-high eight boards in the opening half, and finished with a game-high nine rebounds in the win.
The Golden Eagles opened the second half by cutting Minnesota's lead to 14 points, but the Golden Gophers responded with a 17-2 run over the next 5:10 to lead 56-27 with 13:51 left in the game. Junior guard Kiara Buford keyed the run for the Gophers by scoring six points, while junior forward Jackie Voigt had five points.
For the game, Minnesota made 29-of-65 (.446) field goals, and the Gophers took advantage of 44 free throw attempts by making 30 of them, which was more than UM Crookston attempted (16-of-26).
Cotton was Minnesota's leading scorer, finishing with a game-high 16 points and three assists in 33 minutes. Cotton tallied the majority of her points at the free throw line by making 10-of-13 attempts in the game. Brianna Mastey also reached double figures, with 14 points and six boards in 24 minutes, while Loberg had 10 points, five rebounds, four blocks, three assists, and three steals.
UMC was led by 11 points and seven rebounds from freshman guard Annessa Hicks, while Zelinsky had 10 points, four rebounds, and three steals, and Bri Zabel also reached double-digits with 10 points for the Golden Eagles.
Minnesota now looks ahead to the start of its regular season at its Best Buy Classic Nov. 13-14 at Williams Arena. The Gophers open their season against Northern Illinois on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., followed by Green Bay and George Washington at 3:30 p.m.
Free ticket vouchers will be available to games at the Best Buy Classic. The vouchers can be picked up at any of the 19 Metro-area Best Buy locations between Nov. 8-14, and each voucher is good for one bench seat at Williams Arena on either day of the tournament. Visit the Best Buy Customer Service desk to get yours. Supplies are limited and distributed on a first come, first served basis.
For other ticket information, call the Golden Gopher Ticket Office at 612.624.8080 or 1.800.U.GOPHER, or visit www.mygophersports.com.
