University of Minnesota Athletics
Senior Night Is This Thursday
2/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Tickets: Senior Day vs. Purdue, Feb. 23
The Golden Gophers honor their seniors on Thursday night. Minnesota takes on Purdue at 8 p.m. at Williams Arena, and will honor the four prior to the game.
Karley Barnes (Milwaukee, Wis.) joined the Gophers by way of Tallahassee Community College. The communications major returned from an ACL injury early last season and scored 19 points in her Gophers debut.
Joanna Hedstrom (Minnetonka, Minn.) has spent four years at the U of M and is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree. The Carlson School of Management graduate and human resources/industrial relations master's student made a big jump in on-court production as an upperclassman, and has started more games than ever before this season.
Allina Starr (Minneapolis, Minn.) transferred home after starting her collegiate career at Auburn. The sociology major has five double-digit scoring games and two double-digit rebounding games since she was able to start playing for the Gophers during last year's Big Ten season.
Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn.) graduated from Bradley last year and transferred to her home state to earn her master's in sport management. In her season with the Gophers, she has scored in double figures six times, including a career-high 18 against Kent State.
What are a few of your favorite memories as a Gopher?
KB: This year, getting the chance to play in the Bahamas against North Carolina, one of those top ACC teams, and a tough non-conference schedule. Overall, I'd say my favorite one was beating Ohio State last year's senior night when they were ranked fifth in the country. That was pretty exciting.
JH: Beating Ohio State on our senior night last year was a great memory as a team, and I hope that we can have that feeling after this week's senior night game as well. The selection show when we got the 2014 NCAA Tournament was great. This isn't a specific moment, but the feeling of hitting a three in the Barn, that's one of my best memories. The feeling of it coming off my fingertips, going in the basket and then having the fans in the Barn go crazy, I'll really miss that.
AS: My first year here when we got selected for the NCAA Tournament, and definitely Rachel's 60-point game.
WT: Coming together as a team and really bonding, getting to know the girls throughout the season. That's been my favorite.
What advice do you have for your younger teammates?
KB: Listen to your older teammates. You're going to be the same ones saying that your senior day to the new freshmen coming in. If you listen now, it makes the rest of the year so much easier.
JH: I would say to enjoy every moment and not get too worried about the results. Just focus on the journey. I feel like that's the mindset that I've had and it's helped me really enjoy my college career. Appreciate time with teammates and enjoy every moment because it goes so fast.
AS: Take advantage of the resources that you have. These are good coaches. They have great connections. Our staff has a lot of good people on it. They pretty much are able to help you with anything. It's not hard to get a question answered. They want to work with you and make you better. Keep working and keep grinding and ask questions, and never be satisfied.
WT: Have fun with it. You have to remember it's a game. Sometimes it gets to be a grind and you start to hurt. But you've got to remember the little girls up in the stands now watching us play. You were once that girl. Play for her.
You come into college with certain expectations and hopes, but you never know what's actually going to happen. What's something that you didn't expect that has been a pleasant surprise during your time at the U?
KB: Practicing with Lindsay Whalen. It's exciting. Sometimes in practice I'm on the court with her and I see her do something and I forget I'm actually in the game playing on the same floor. It's one of those moments where Coach says, "Don't sit back and eat popcorn." It's exciting playing against her. …I'm not going to ask her for an autograph but I still took pictures.
JH: That's an easy one for me. Switching to the 4 position was not expected at all for me but it's been a pleasant surprise. I'm able to do the little things at that position. It plays well to my strength of hard work. I really actually enjoy the 4 position, where when it first happened it was scary.
AS: Practicing with Lindsay. Practicing with Rachel (Banham), now that she's in the WNBA. It's a lot different practicing against her than practicing with her. Being able to connect with the WNBA players, from the Sparks practicing here (last year) and us getting to watch that, and the Lynx, that's been cool to see and a blessing.
WT: I liked it when Rachel and the other old seniors came back who I've played with in AAU, like Mikayla Bailey and Shayne (Mullaney). That was kind of cool. It was like a reunion. I'd played with Bails since fifth grade.
