University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers to Take on Penn State in B1G Tourney Quarterfinals
3/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
| Minnesota (15-16, 6-10) vs. No. 9/12 Penn State (23-5, 13-3) | |
| 2012 Big Ten Tournament - Quarterfinals | |
| Date | Friday, March 2, 2012 |
| Time | 5:00 p.m. CT |
| Location | Bankers Life Fieldhouse |
| Series Record | Minnesota trails 11-24 |
| Last Meeting | L, 51-74 (Feb. 26, 2012) |
| Television | BTN (Tom Hart, Stephanie White, Lisa Byington) |
| Radio | KBEM Jazz 88.5 FM (Listen Online) |
| (Corbu Stathes, Lynnette Sjoquist) | |
| Live Stats | |
| Game Notes | Minnesota | Penn State |
| Season Statistics | Minnesota | Penn State |
| Social Media | Facebook | @GophersWBB |
Scouting Minnesota
• The Gophers closed out the regular-season as the No. 8 seed in Big Ten standings with a 6-10 conference record and now boast a 15-16 overall clip with their win vs. Wisconsin in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.
• Minnesota has lost its last two contests vs. ranked opponents, one of which came against the Lady Lions in the regular-season finale on Feb. 26.
• The Gophers have won three of its last five games, with one of those victories coming against No. 16/15 Nebraska at Williams Arena on Feb. 13.
• Freshman Rachel Banham leads the Maroon and Gold with a scoring average of 15.9 points per game, a mark that ranks first among conference freshmen.
• The rookie paced the Maroon and Gold and finished the season tied for fourth in scoring in Big Ten Conference games with an 18.1 points-per-game average.
• Banham also leads the Gophers and is tops in the league with a .438 three-point shooting percentage, connecting on 46 of her 105 attempts, while finishing the year with an impressive .492 (31-63) three-point field goal percentage in league games.
• Senior Kiara Buford is also averaging double-digits in scoring this season, with a 13.5 point-per-game clip. She also leads the Gophers in free throws (100), assists (96) and steals (61).
• Junior Katie Loberg is the Gophers' team-leader in rebounds, averaging 6.2 per game, while Kionna Kellogg averaged a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game in league contests.
• Minnesota is outscoring its opponents by an average of 3.3 points per game and outrebounding its foes by a margin of 4.0 boards per game.
Scouting No. 9/12 Penn State
• The Nittany Lions enter Friday's quarterfinal contest ranked ninth in this week's AP Poll and 12th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
• Penn State claimed the Big Ten Conference regular-season title for the first time in eight years and the No. 1 seed in the league postseason tournament with a 13-3 Big Ten record and a 23-5 overall with its win vs. the Gophers on Feb. 26.
• The Nittany Lions have won seven-straight games and 12 of their last 13 contests.
• Maggie Lucas is the Nittany Lions' leading scorer on the year, boasting a scoring average of 19.3 points per game, while Alex Bentley follows close behind with an 14.0 points-per-game average.
• Nikki Greene paces Penn State in rebounding average at 8.2 boards per game, good for third in conference standings, and also leads the team in total blocks with 39 on the season.
• Thanks to Lucas, the Nittany Lions rank second in the Big Ten Conference standings with a 75.7 points-per-game average. The squad also leads the league with a +15.5 scoring margin.
• Bentley is the team-leader with 135 assists and 82 steals, while she also averages 2.8 rebounds overall.
Series History
• In the all-time series, the Gophers trail the Nittany Lions, 11-24, which includes a 3-14 road record and a 0-1 neutral-site mark.
• Minnesota has won 10 of its last 17 meetings with Penn State, but has dropped its last four matchups with the squad.
• The Gophers have already faced the Nittany Lions twice this season, falling to the squad, 68-65, on Feb. 5 at Williams Arena, despite holding a 15-point lead in the first half, before losing its regular-season finale, 74-51, at the Bryce Jordan Center on Feb. 26.
• Minnesota last defeated Penn State on Feb. 11, 2010 in University Park, Penn. In the 59-52 victory, Brittany McCoy made 11-of-12 free throws and scored a game-high 14 points to help the Gophers shoot an impressive 90.3 percent as a team from the foul line, converting 28 of 31 attempts.
Versus Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament
• The Gophers and the Lady Lions have met only once in the Big Ten Tournament, with Penn State defeating Minnesota, 63-52, in the first round of the 2010 tournament.
• China Antoine led the Gophers with 12 points, all of them coming in three-point field goals. She was the only Gopher in double figures.
Last Time vs. Penn State
• Minnesota got off to a slow start and could not recover as it dropped its final regular-season contest at No. 11/15 Penn State, 74-51, on Feb. 26 in Big Ten action from the Bryce Jordan Center.
• The Maroon and Gold had three players score in double-figures in the contest, with senior Kiara Buford leading the effort with 11 points.
• Micaëlla Riché, who made her first-career start vs. the Lady Lions, added 10 points and seven rebounds.
• Rachel Banham also tallied 10 points and pulled down four rebounds to extend her double-digit scoring streak to 26 games.
• Senior Brianna Mastey led Minnesota with nine rebounds and two steals, to go along with four points, and sophomore Kionna Kellogg contributed eight points and six rebounds.
Minnesota's Big Ten Tournament Notables
• Minnesota owns a 6-17 record at the Big Ten Tournament
• When Minnesota advanced to the Big Ten Tournament title game in 2005, it was the first time the Gophers had won a game other than a First Round matchup.
• Jamie Broback led the 2005 Big Ten Tournament in scoring by averaging 23.3 points per game.
• Wisconsin is the Gophers' most common opponent in Big Ten Tournament play, as Minnesota has faced the Badgers five times.
Last Time Out
• Behind a 19-point performance from Kiara Buford, Minnesota thumped Wisconsin, 81-49, Thursday night in the opening round of the Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Tournament.
• Minnesota's 32-point margin of victory was the third largest in Big Ten Tournament history and the biggest in 12 years. (Iowa 87, Indiana 53 in 1997; Michigan 72, Northwestern 39 in 2000).
• The win was the first for the squad in the league tournament since 2007, when they defeated Northwestern, 60-43, in the opening round of the event, and its fifth win at the event overall.
• It also snapped the Maroon and Gold's six-game losing streak against Wisconsin dating back to Jan. 7, 2008.
• Four Gophers scored in double figures, with Buford's 19 points being the game-high. The senior was 8-for-10 from the floor and connected on her first five attempts of the game. Buford surpassed former teammate Emily Fox for the No. 7 spot on Minnesota's all-time scoring register.
• Rachel Banham and Kionna Kellogg each scored 11 points, with Banham posting her third double-double of the year.
• Micaëlla Riché rounded out the quartet of double-digit scorers with 10 points and eight rebounds in just her second-career start.
• As a team, Minnesota shot .500 from the floor, making 16 of its 32 tries, .556 (5-9) from three-point range and .857 (12-14) from the foul line. Of its 81 total points, 50 came from inside the paint and 23 were scored off Wisconsin turnovers. The Gophers scored 20 second-chance points, 12 fast break points and outscored the Badgers' bench, 27-12.
Up Next for the Gophers
• Should the Maroon and Gold defeat Penn State, it would face the winner of Purdue vs. Michigan State Saturday night about 25 minutes after the 4:00 p.m. CT opening game.
In the Top 10
• With 19 points vs. Wisconsin Thursday night, Kiara Buford surpassed Emily Fox for the No. 7 spot on Minnesota's all-time scoring register.
• Buford is the first player to move into the top-10 since Fox, who finished her career with 1,449 career points from 2005-09.
• The senior currently boasts 1,461 career points, and is 39 points away from recording 1,500 for her career.
• The guard ranks fifth all-time at Minnesota with 126 three-point field goals, is ninth with 158 steals, and ranks 10th with 307 free throws, 57 blocks and 269 career assists.
Double-Digit Scoring Streak
• Rachel Banham has scored in double-digits in 27-straight games heading into the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals Friday.
• The rookie's streak is currently the second-longest in the league, as she trails only Ohio State's Tayler Hill (29).
• Her streak dates back to the Gophers' Nov. 20 win vs. North Dakota State.
• Banham has scored in double-figures in 29 of the Gophers' 31 games played on the year.
• The only two games in which the rookie scored less than 10 points was vs. USF and Binghamton in mid-November.
