University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Garner Awards, Top-10 Performances
3/15/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
After claiming back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year awards and becoming one of only two programs to have top-five WNBA Draft picks in both 2015 and 2016, the Golden Gophers showed no signs of slowing down in 2016-17. Head coach Marlene Stollings recorded her 100th career coaching victory and became the second-fastest to reach 50 wins at Minnesota during her third season. The Gophers reshaped the program's top-10 lists while earning several individual awards during the 2016-17 season.
With a young team including eight newcomers, the Gophers took on a strength of schedule that ranked eighth in the nation. As excitement buzzed around the season, the Gophers also drew the attention of WNBA coaches. Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve and Washington Mystics head coach Mike Thibault attended practices and spoke to the team. Some of the program's most prominent alumnae, Minnesota Lynx star and two-time Olympian Lindsay Whalen and Connecticut Sun No. 4 overall pick Rachel Banham, practiced occasionally with the Gophers throughout the season.
The future is promising for this young team. During the early signing period, the Gophers inked the No. 62 ranked ESPN recruit, Destiny Pitts. The Gophers return 83 percent of their scoring for next season, and in January 2018 they will move into their new, world-class $166 million Athletes Village. Stollings was recently selected to be a voter on the prestigious WBCA Division I Coaches' All-America Team committee as well as the Wade Trophy committee.
GopherSports.com took a look at the accomplishments garnered by the Gophers after their third season with Stollings at the helm:
AND THE AWARD GOES TO...
*Carlie Wagner became the Gophers' first CoSIDA Academic All-American in 11 years when she was named to the Third Team. She earned Academic All-District recognition for the second year in a row.
*Early in the season, Wagner was named to the Naismith Watch List as a candidate for national player of the year.
*Wagner earned her second consecutive All-Big Ten Second Team award. She had previously made the All-Freshman Team in 2015.
*Kenisha Bell received All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in her first year in the conference.
*Under Marlene Stollings, the Gophers have had two Big Ten Players of the Year, and received three All-Big Ten First Team honors, two consensus All-Big Ten Second Team honors and one All-Big Ten Honorable Mention award.
*Freshman Gadiva Hubbard was named to the Junkanoo Jam All-Tournament Team in November in the Bahamas, and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week following another outstanding week in December.
*Wagner was named to the Big Ten Player of the Week Honor Roll twice during the season, while Jessie Edwards earned that honor once.
TRIPLE THREAT
*Minnesota's best three team 3-point field goal totals have come during Stollings' tenure.
*The Gophers made 203 triples in 2016-17 despite graduating program record holder Rachel Banham (119 3-pointers last year) and two other seniors who contributed to 2015-16's record-high 292 3-pointers. The Gophers first surpassed the 200 mark from 3-point range in Stollings' first season, making 214 treys as a team.
*Wagner led the Gophers with a career-best 82 3-pointers this year. She ranks third on Minnesota's all-time season list, only behind two of Banham's seasons.
*Hubbard was second on the team with 46 triples even while missing eight games with injuries or illness.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS
*Minnesota recorded a program-record 508 offensive rebounds this season. The Gophers averaged 16.4 offensive boards per game.
*Wagner finished the season eighth on Minnesota's career scoring list with 1,597 points. She moved up from 23rd, where she began her junior year. She had three games with 30 or more points this year, including a career-high 38 at Michigan. Wagner is only the second Gopher in the past 15 years to score at least 38 points in a game.
*Wagner's career average of 16.6 points per game ranks seventh in program history. The Gophers junior also ranks fourth all-time in career 3-pointers (206) and games scoring in double figures (83).
*With 593 points this year, Wagner now has two of the top 10 season scoring totals in Minnesota history. She had 606 points last year.
*Bell had a statistical top-10 season in multiple categories. Her total assists (148) rank seventh, while her average of 4.9 ranks ninth. She tied for seventh in free throw attempts (183), making 142 to tie for ninth in that category.
*Edwards shot 59.8 percent from the field this year, the fourth-best accuracy in a Minnesota season. Her 44 blocks tie for eighth in Gophers history.
*Edwards moved into eighth on Minnesota's career blocks list and has 85.
BIG TEN LEADERS
*Through conference tournament play, Wagner's overall scoring average of 19.1 points per game ranks seventh in the Big Ten and 32nd nationally. She is fourth in the conference with 2.6 3-pointers per game, and third in minutes with 36.0 per game.
*Bell is fourth in the conference with 4.9 assists per game, and fifth with 2.2 steals per game. She made the third-most free throws over the season, 142.
*Hubbard's 12.5 points per game would officially rank third among Big Ten freshmen if she had played in one more game. She closed out the season with a career-high 28 points against Maryland.
*As a team, Minnesota ranked third in rebounding with 43.6 per game, including a second-best 16.0 offensive boards per contest.
*The Gophers attempted (644) and made (644) the third-most free throws in the Big Ten.
QUICK HITS
*Minnesota won its ninth consecutive Border Battle matchup with Wisconsin, its longest winning streak in the all-time series.
*The Gophers got off to their third consecutive 4-0 start. This was the first three-year stretch of four-win starts in program history.
*The Gophers moved to 39-10 at Williams Arena under Stollings, with an 11-5 mark at home this year.
*Minnesota's Big Ten Tournament win against Penn State was the fourth win by a 10-seed in the tournament's history.
*Bell turned in the highest-scoring Minnesota debut of the past 20 years when she scored 24 points at VCU. Gadiva Hubbard (16), Whitney Tinjum (15), Jasmine Brunson (15) and Taiye Bello (10) all scored in double figures in their Gophers debut against Harvard.
*Freshmen accounted for 496 of Minnesota's 2286 points (21.7 percent), 233 rebounds (17.2 percent), 100 assists (23.9 percent) and 69 steals (30.7 percent). Gopher freshmen tallied 17 double-digit scoring games.
