University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open Exhibition Play Wednesday vs. St. Cloud State
11/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 2, 2011
The University of Minnesota women's basketball team will get its first action of the season Wednesday night when it takes on St. Cloud State in exhibition action. Tip off for the contest is set for 7 p.m. from Williams Arena.
Schedule
Wednesday vs. St. Cloud State - Minneapolis, Minn. - 7 p.m.
Records
Minnesota - 12-18 Overall, 4-12 Big Ten*
St. Cloud State - 12-14 Overall, 9-13 NSIC*
*2010-11 records
Arena
Williams Arena (14,625)
Series
Minnesota leads, 15-7
Live Coverage
Gopher All-Access
• Play-by-Play - Matt Nelson
Scouting St. Cloud State
• The Huskies are coming off a 2010-11 season in which they posted a 12-14 overall record and a 9-13 record in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
• SCSU returns eight letterwinners from last year, including four starters.
• The team lost its top scorer from the season in Talisha Barlow, who averaged 13.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
• Barlow is the lone player missing from St. Cloud State's starting lineup from 2010-11.
• The Huskies already have one exhibition game under their belts, as they defeated Dakota State, 87-59, Saturday night at Halenbeck Hall.
• Senior post Aaryn Booker led all players with 20 points and eight rebounds.
Gophers Finish with 12-18 Mark
• Minnesota finished the 2010-11 season with a 12-18 overall mark.
• The Gophers posted a 4-12 record in the Big Ten for an ninth-place finish.
• Minnesota was eliminated in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament by Northwestern, 53-44.
• It marked the second-straight year since the 2000-01 season that Minnesota posted a sub-.500 record and failed to advance to postseason play.
Wealth of Experience
• The Golden Gophers return 11 letterwinners and four starters from last season's squad.
• Minnesota brings back three of its top scorers from a year ago in Kiara Burford (14.9 ppg), Leah Cotton (10.7 ppg) and Katie Loberg (9.0 ppg).
• The Gophers also return 82 percent of its total offense from 2010-11 in Buford, Cotton, Loberg and the squad's eight additional returners.
• The U's returners logged a total of 4,503 minutes last season, an average of 409 minutes per player.
Returning to Score
• Senior Kiara Buford returns for her senior campaign as one of the top-five scorers in the Big Ten.
• Her 14.9 points per game in 2010-11 ranked ninth in conference standings at the end of the season and rank fourth among returning players.
• Her scoring average for the year was a career-high.
Breaking into the Record Books
• Kiara Buford enters the 2011-12 season with 1,043 career points, a mark that ranks 15th on the career scoring register.
• The senior needs 303 points to break into Minnesota's all-time top 10 for scoring.
• Marty Dahlen currently ranks 10th on the list with 1,345 points from 1978-82.
•Lindsay Whalen ranks first in scoring with 2,285 career points from 2000-04.
10-Year Anniversary
• Head coach Pam Borton enters her 10th season at the helm of the Minnesota women's basketball team.
• The skipper holds a 177-108 record at the helm of the Golden Gophers and a 246-154 mark in 13 seasons as a head coach.
• With 177 wins with the Gophers, Borton became the winningest coach in Minnesota women's basketball history.
• Ellen Mosher-Hanson previously held the record with a 172-125 record from 1977-87.
• Borton reached the milestone in one less year at the helm of the squad.
• The head coach will celebrate her 10-year anniversary at Minnesota's home-opener vs. Binghamton during the Subway Classic on Nov. 19.
Nationally-Ranked Recruiting Class
• Pam Borton's 2011 women's basketball recruiting class of Rachel Banham and Kayla Hirt ranked 17th nationally by ESPN.com's HoopGirlz.
• Only Iowa (No. 11) and Northwestern (No. 14) ranked higher than the Gophers in the Big Ten.
• Rachel Banham ranked among ESPNU's Terrific 25 on ESPN.com and ranked in the top-five as a point guard.
• Kayla Hirt ranked among ESPNU's Top 100 on ESPN.com.
What We've Been Waiting For
• Freshman Rachel Banham comes into her rookie campaign as a piece to the puzzle that the Gophers have been missing...a true point guard.
• Banham was named the 2011 Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year and Minnesota Miss Basketball after averaged 17.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists in her senior campaign at Lakeville North High School.
• The point guard also helped Lakeville North to a 29-3 record and a conference championship in 2011.
• The addition of Banham to the lineup will open up more scoring opportunities for the Gophers' top scorer, Kiara Buford, as well as the team's front court.
New Role
• Though she only received the starting nod two times in 2010-11, junior Leah Cotton ranked second on the team in scoring and fourth in minutes played.
• Cotton averaged 10.7 points per game, while also posting game averages of 2.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.7 steals.
• This season, the junior will be looked upon to be a defender on the ball and change the pace on the floor.
Voigt Collects 500th Rebound
• Jackie Voigt moved past 500 career rebounds during the 2010-11 campaign.
• Voigt, who led Minnesota with an average of 5.6 rebounds per game, finished the season with 511 career boards.
• For the season, she had 188 rebounds, which is the best single-season total of her career.
• Voigt is in need of 192 rebounds to crack Minnesota's all-time top 10 in the category, as Marty Dahlem (1979-82) ranks 10th with 703 career boards.
So Close
• If you look take a closer at the Gophers' 4-12 Big Ten mark from last year, you'll see that eight of Minnesota's losses were by single digits.
• Look even closer and you'll find that Minnesota held double-figure leads in the second half of five games they eventually lost -- including a 13-point lead versus Iowa, an 11-point advantage at Penn State, a 14-point lead (which was 16 in the first half) at home versus Wisconsin and a 12-point edge versus Michigan State.
• In addition to that, the Gophers lost on a layup in the final seconds at Iowa.
• Having a true point guard could remedy those close marks, while more experience on the floor will be able to help hold leads in the second half.
Out for the Season
• Highly touted freshman Kayla Hirt will miss the entire 2011-12 Minnesota women's basketball season as a result of tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in practice.
• Hirt also missed her senior season at Bemidji High School last year for tearing the ACL in her opposite knee.
• Prior to her injury, Hirt averaged 26.0 points and 14.1 rebounds per game as a junior to help Bemidji to a 25-2 record and a spot in the Class AAA state quarterfinals.
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