University of Minnesota Athletics
Tuesday, November 5
3:00 PM
University of Minnesota
0-1,0-0Big Ten
69
vs
77
Missouri State
1-0,0-0MVC
1
2
3
4
F
Missouri St.
26
11
19
21
77
Minnesota
13
15
21
20
69
Photo by: Kelly Hagenson
Gophers Drop Season Opener to Missouri State
11/5/2019 6:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MINNEAPOLIS -- Junior Destiny Pitts scored a team-high 18 points but No. 23/RV Minnesota (0-1) dropped its season opener to NR/RV Missouri State (1-0) Tuesday afternoon, 77-69, at Williams Arena.
The Golden Gophers outscored the Lady Bears, who returned 12 players from last year's team that reached the Sweet 16, over the final three quarters, 56-51. But Minnesota was done in by a first quarter that saw Missouri State jump out to a 26-13 lead after 10 minutes.
Trailing 44-31 early in the third quarter, Minnesota used a 16-6 run to get back to within three points at 50-47 with less than two and a half minutes remaining in the period. Pitts scored nine of her 18 points during the stretch, while senior captain Jasmine Brunson had five of her 14 points during the same span. That would be as close as Minnesota would get the rest of the way, however.
Pitts' 18 points give her 976 for her career, leaving her 24 points shy of becoming the 25th player in Gophers' history to reach that number. She made her first six 3-pointers of the night and tied a career high with six assists.
Junior Taiye Bello also reached double figures for the Gophers with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. She added a pair of blocks and two rebounds.
Notable
Redshirt junior Gadiva Hubbard started the game, returning to the lineup for the first time since the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament after missing all of last season with a foot injury. She scored two points and had three assists, three steals and a rebound in 20 minutes of action.
In addition, four Gophers made their Minnesota debuts: Senior Masha Adashchyk (1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block) and freshmen Jasmine Powell (3 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 rebound), Sara Scalia (8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal) and Klarke Sconiers (4 points, 1 assist).
Quotable
"Every loss you learn from. You want to learn from wins, that's more fun, but no question we will watch the video. We felt like last year when we got to the Big Ten, we had a start because we felt like maybe the non-conference didn't have as many games against a team of this magnitude. We have some tough challenges for sure. That's why we have to come ready every practice right from the start and every game right from the start because if you don't, you'll be down 13 really quick to a really good team." – Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen, on playing tough non-conference opponents
Up Next
Minnesota continues its season-opening six game homestand when it hosts Vermont Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Golden Gophers outscored the Lady Bears, who returned 12 players from last year's team that reached the Sweet 16, over the final three quarters, 56-51. But Minnesota was done in by a first quarter that saw Missouri State jump out to a 26-13 lead after 10 minutes.
Trailing 44-31 early in the third quarter, Minnesota used a 16-6 run to get back to within three points at 50-47 with less than two and a half minutes remaining in the period. Pitts scored nine of her 18 points during the stretch, while senior captain Jasmine Brunson had five of her 14 points during the same span. That would be as close as Minnesota would get the rest of the way, however.
Pitts' 18 points give her 976 for her career, leaving her 24 points shy of becoming the 25th player in Gophers' history to reach that number. She made her first six 3-pointers of the night and tied a career high with six assists.
Junior Taiye Bello also reached double figures for the Gophers with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. She added a pair of blocks and two rebounds.
Notable
Redshirt junior Gadiva Hubbard started the game, returning to the lineup for the first time since the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament after missing all of last season with a foot injury. She scored two points and had three assists, three steals and a rebound in 20 minutes of action.
In addition, four Gophers made their Minnesota debuts: Senior Masha Adashchyk (1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block) and freshmen Jasmine Powell (3 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 rebound), Sara Scalia (8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal) and Klarke Sconiers (4 points, 1 assist).
Quotable
"Every loss you learn from. You want to learn from wins, that's more fun, but no question we will watch the video. We felt like last year when we got to the Big Ten, we had a start because we felt like maybe the non-conference didn't have as many games against a team of this magnitude. We have some tough challenges for sure. That's why we have to come ready every practice right from the start and every game right from the start because if you don't, you'll be down 13 really quick to a really good team." – Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen, on playing tough non-conference opponents
Up Next
Minnesota continues its season-opening six game homestand when it hosts Vermont Sunday at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
MSU
MINN
FG%
.549
.406
3FG%
.400
.611
FT%
1.000
.750
RB
41
21
TO
26
19
STL
9
10
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
6
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
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