University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
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Harvard
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Wagner Scores 27 in Win over Harvard
11/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Minnesota opened its 2016-17 season with a 103-87 win against Harvard. Carlie Wagner scored 27 points to lead the Golden Gophers, and five other players reached double figures for the home team at Williams Arena.
Freshman Gadiva Hubbard scored 16 points off the bench and added eight assists and five steals. Classmate Jasmine Brunson started and scored 15 points. Transfer Whitney Tinjum posted 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, in her Minnesota debut. Freshman Taiye Bello recorded the team's first double-double since Jan. 23 last season, tallying 10 points and 12 rebounds in 20 minutes. Allina Starr also reached double digits with 11 points, and added seven rebounds and six assists.
Minnesota turned in its highest-scoring first half since putting up 57 points at Illinois on Jan. 7, 2016. The Gophers led 55-47 at halftime. By the end of the game, they had tallied their seventh 100-point performance under head coach Marlene Stollings.
The Gophers scored 33 points off turnovers, and tallied 14 steals. That number tied last year's season high for steals.
Carlie Wagner moved into 18th place on Minnesota's all-time career scoring list. She has 1,031 points and passed Elsie Ohm (1,011), Jamie Broback (1,019), Kadidja Anderson (1,029) and Cara Pearson (1,030) Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter: Jasmine Brunson and Whitney Tinjum scored the Gophers' first 12 points. Tinjum made her first three consecutive field goal attempts as a Gopher, including a pair of 3-pointers. Brunson started and scored nine points in her first quarter of college basketball, going 5-for-6 from the free throw line. The Gophers led 31-23 at the end of the opening frame.
Second Quarter: Minnesota took a 12-point lead before Harvard tied the game at 40 with 5:33 to go. Minnesota closed out the half on a 15-7 run to lead 55-47. Wagner led the Gophers with 12 points in the first half, and Brunson had 11. Havard's first half was highlighted by 10 3-pointers. The Gophers had six.
Third Quarter: The Gophers built a 74-60 lead by the end of the third quarter. During the third, they had 10 points off turnovers.
Fourth Quarter: Wagner scored 11 of her 27 points in the final quarter. The Gophers held their largest lead, 23, during the fourth.
MORE NOTES
*Minnesota has won eight consecutive season openers.
*Wagner has scored in double figures in 35 consecutive games, dating back to Minnesota's 2015 Big Ten Tournament game against Ohio State.
*Wagner has 19 career games scoring 20 or more points.
*The last time Minnesota had six players score in double figures was Jan. 7, 2016, at Illinois.
*Bello's double-double was the first by a Gopher since Starr's on Jan. 23, 2016, at Wisconsin.
*Brunson scored the first two points of the season, making two free throws.
*Four players made their Gophers debut in the season opener. Two of them, Tinjum and Brunson, started. Bello and Hubbard came off the bench.
Following a Tuesday game at VCU, the Gophers host Georgetown on Friday at 4 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
