University of Minnesota Athletics
Thursday, February 28
Piscataway, N.J.
5:30 PM
University of Minnesota
19-9
54
at
60
Rutgers
20-8
1
2
3
4
F
Minnesota
15
15
12
12
54
Rutgers
12
13
13
22
60
Gophers Drop Road Finale at Rutgers
2/28/2019 9:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. --Â Sophomore Destiny Pitts continued her streak of 20-point games, but Minnesota (19-9, 8-9 B1G) dropped its final road game of the season to Rutgers (20-8, 12-5) Thursday night, 60-54.
Pitts scored a team-high 24 points against the Scarlet Knights, her fifth straight game with at least 21 points. She's the first Gopher to have a streak of that length since teammate Kenisha Bell did it in six straight games in December of 2017. Pitts was 7-of-16 from the floor Thursday, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range to tie a season high in 3-pointers made.
In her past five games, Pitts is averaging a team-best 23.6 points per contest, while shooting 50.0 percent on field goals (38-of-76), 46.7 percent on 3-pointers (21-of-45) and 87.5 percent on free throws (21-of-24).
Pitts was joined in double figures by Bell, who had 14 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.Â
Junior Taiye Bello nearly notched her 11th double-double of the season as she pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and scored eight points. Fellow junior Jasmine Brunson, who grew up about an hour away from the Rutgers campus in Queens, N.Y., led Minnesota with five assists and three steals while scoring five points.
Down 8-5 early in the game, Minnesota went on a 10-0 run that covered nearly four and a half minutes. Leading 15-12 after one quarter, the Gophers would not trail again until the fourth quarter.
In the second quarter, Minnesota was up one at 17-16, but Pitts helped give separation as she knocked down 3-pointers on three straight possessions to go on a personal 9-2 run. She scored 11 points in total in the frame, and Minnesota led 30-25 at the half.
Another 3-pointer from Pitts put the Gophers ahead 37-28 with 6:43 to play in the third quarter, their largest lead of the game. However, Rutgers responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to just one. Pitts put a stop to the run, though, with another 3-pointer and Minnesota entered the fourth quarter up 42-38.
Rutgers tied the game on multiple occasions early in the fourth before taking the lead for the first time since 8-5 on a basket by Charise Wilson that put the Scarlet Knights ahead 46-44. Pitts tied the game back on the Gophers' ensuing possession, but free throws from Arella Guirantes put Rutgers back on top for good with 6:20 to play.
Minnesota would get as close as four points the rest of the way when Bell made a layup to make it 52-48 with 2:26 to play, but the streak of the home team winning every game in the all-time series continued. Rutgers has won all five meetings in Piscataway, while Minnesota has taken all three in Minneapolis, including a 60-46 win earlier this year on Feb. 3.
Guirantes scored 14 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter alone as Rutgers outscored Minnesota 22-12 in the frame.Â
Minnesota closes out the regular season Sunday against Michigan State (19-9, 9-8 B1G). Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. on BTN Plus. The Gophers' four seniors, Bell, Irene Garrido Perez, Palma Kaposi and Annalese Lamke, will be honored in a postgame ceremony.Â
Pitts scored a team-high 24 points against the Scarlet Knights, her fifth straight game with at least 21 points. She's the first Gopher to have a streak of that length since teammate Kenisha Bell did it in six straight games in December of 2017. Pitts was 7-of-16 from the floor Thursday, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range to tie a season high in 3-pointers made.
In her past five games, Pitts is averaging a team-best 23.6 points per contest, while shooting 50.0 percent on field goals (38-of-76), 46.7 percent on 3-pointers (21-of-45) and 87.5 percent on free throws (21-of-24).
Pitts was joined in double figures by Bell, who had 14 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.Â
Junior Taiye Bello nearly notched her 11th double-double of the season as she pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and scored eight points. Fellow junior Jasmine Brunson, who grew up about an hour away from the Rutgers campus in Queens, N.Y., led Minnesota with five assists and three steals while scoring five points.
Down 8-5 early in the game, Minnesota went on a 10-0 run that covered nearly four and a half minutes. Leading 15-12 after one quarter, the Gophers would not trail again until the fourth quarter.
In the second quarter, Minnesota was up one at 17-16, but Pitts helped give separation as she knocked down 3-pointers on three straight possessions to go on a personal 9-2 run. She scored 11 points in total in the frame, and Minnesota led 30-25 at the half.
Another 3-pointer from Pitts put the Gophers ahead 37-28 with 6:43 to play in the third quarter, their largest lead of the game. However, Rutgers responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to just one. Pitts put a stop to the run, though, with another 3-pointer and Minnesota entered the fourth quarter up 42-38.
Rutgers tied the game on multiple occasions early in the fourth before taking the lead for the first time since 8-5 on a basket by Charise Wilson that put the Scarlet Knights ahead 46-44. Pitts tied the game back on the Gophers' ensuing possession, but free throws from Arella Guirantes put Rutgers back on top for good with 6:20 to play.
Minnesota would get as close as four points the rest of the way when Bell made a layup to make it 52-48 with 2:26 to play, but the streak of the home team winning every game in the all-time series continued. Rutgers has won all five meetings in Piscataway, while Minnesota has taken all three in Minneapolis, including a 60-46 win earlier this year on Feb. 3.
Guirantes scored 14 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter alone as Rutgers outscored Minnesota 22-12 in the frame.Â
Minnesota closes out the regular season Sunday against Michigan State (19-9, 9-8 B1G). Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. on BTN Plus. The Gophers' four seniors, Bell, Irene Garrido Perez, Palma Kaposi and Annalese Lamke, will be honored in a postgame ceremony.Â
Team Stats
MINN
RU
FG%
.378
.400
3FG%
.467
.133
FT%
.813
.824
RB
28
36
TO
20
17
STL
8
11
Game Leaders
Pts
24
FGM
7
3FGM
6
FTM
4
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
5
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballHighlights: Gophers 57, USF 45
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Highlights: Gophers 57, Kansas 63
Wednesday, November 19
Cinematic Recap: Gophers-NJIT
Saturday, November 15
Highlights: Gophers 88, NJIT 39
Friday, November 14