University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
23-9, 11-7
Ohio State
22-9, 13-5
Zahui B. Notches Triple-Double in Loss
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
 |
|  | |||||||||||||
| 71 | 83 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
March 6, 2015
Box Score| Photo Gallery
| Notes
| Quotes
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -Amanda Zahui B. notched her second triple-double of the season with 25 points, 11 rebounds and a Big Ten Tournament record 11 blocks, but it was not enough as the University of Minnesota (23-9) women's basketball team dropped its Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal contest to Ohio State, 83-71, Friday night at Sears Centre Arena.
With 14 blocks in the Gophers' pair of contests, Zahui B. set a new Big Ten Tournament record for blocks in a single tournament, while her triple-double was just the second in Big Ten Tournament history. The first was recorded was a 23-point, 11-rebound, 10-steal performance against the Buckeyes by former Gopher Janel McCarville in the 2004 tournament. Zauhi B. now has 22 blocked shots in four career Big Ten Tournament games, which is second on the individual career list. Minnesota finished with 12 blocked shots overall, which was a Big Ten Tournament single-game record.
With her second rebound of the game, Zahui B. also broke her own Big Ten and program record for rebounds in a single season and finished the contest with 404 on the year.
Shae Kelley also had a solid outing for the Maroon and Gold, as she posted 23 points, 13 rebounds and three steals for her 14th double-double and 14th 20-point performance of the year. The senior averaged 24.5 points per game in her first Big Ten Tournament.
Shayne Mullaney finished with nine assists for the second-straight contest, while Mikayla Bailey pulled down 10 rebounds for her second double-figure rebound performance and had three assists against the Buckeyes.
As a team, the Gophers notched a .379 (25-66) field goal percentage and a .739 (17-23) free throw percentage, while also pulling down 47 rebounds and dishing out 16 assists. Minnesota had trouble taking care of the ball in the loss, as it committed 22 turnovers that turned into 21 points for Ohio State. The Buckeyes also scored 22 points off of 19 offensive rebounds.
It was a closely contested start to the first half for the Gophers and the Buckeyes, which included six lead changes and three tied scores, but a 10-0 run from Ohio State gave the home team a 28-18 advantage with six minutes to play in the half. The Buckeyes would eventually go ahead by 15 points with one minute to play, before heading into the locker room leading the Maroon and Gold, 40-28.
Wagner paced Minnesota with 10 points through the first 20 minutes of play, while Bailey had seven rebounds to lead the squad.
The Gophers were out-scored in the paint, 22-6, and the Buckeyes were able to take advantage of eight offensive rebounds to score 11 second-chance points. Minnesota also struggled to find a rhythm offensively, shooting just .346 from the floor, which included .250 from three-point range.
Minnesota fought its way back into the contest in the second half, pulling with 12 points with 9:43 to play, 58-46, before making it an eight-point game with less than a minute to play on a layup from Wagner. The rookie cut the Buckeye lead to eight points again with 20 seconds remaining on the clock with her fourth three-pointer of the game, but four Ohio State free throws pushed its advantage back to 12 points as time ran out.
The Gophers will learn their NCAA Tournament fate on Monday, March 16 at 6 p.m.
-UM-
