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Gophers' Trio Claims Big Ten Season Honors
3/4/2019 1:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MINNEAPOLIS – Senior Kenisha Bell, junior Taiye Bello and sophomore Destiny Pitts have all taken home season honors from the Big Ten, the conference announced Monday.
Bell was a consensus All-Big Ten First Team selection and was placed on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team, while Pitts earned First Team honors from the media and junior Taiye Bello was given honorable mention accolades. In addition, junior Jasmine Brunson was tabbed as the school's Sportsmanship Award representative.
It's the second straight season that Bell has been named an All-Big Ten First Team honoree by the league's coaches, who voted for her unanimously, and the media. She was also placed on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team for the second straight season, joining Amanda Zahui B. (2014, 2015) as the only two-time honorees in team history.
Bell leads the Gophers with 18.9 points per game and is also averaging 5.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.0 steals per contest. She leads the conference in steals (59) and free throws made (159) and attempted (230), ranks second in field goals made (188) and attempted (470) and is third in scoring average and steals per game. Nationally, she's fourth in the country in free throws attempted, eighth in free throw made, 24th in field goal attempts and 41st in points per game.
Pitts was named an All-Big Ten First Team honoree by the league's media and a Second Team selection by the Big Ten coaches. A year ago, she was tabbed Second Team by the media and honorable mention by the coaches, in addition to being the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
A native of Detroit, Mich., Pitts ranks second on the team at 15.7 points per game to go with 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. She's made over half of the team's 3-pointers this year, accounting for 74 of the team's 140 makes. She ranks second in the Big Ten in free throw percentage (81.7) and 3-pointers attempted (202), and third in 3-pointers made, 3-pointers made per game (2.55) and minutes played per game (35.79).
Pitts has scored at least 21 points in each of the last six games, averaging 24.0 points per game over that span while shooting 48.9 percent from the floor, 43.4 percent on 3-pointers and 91.2 percent on free throws.
Bello was a consensus All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by both the league's coaches and media, garnering the first conference accolades of her career.
She leads the team with 12.4 rebounds per game, good for second in the Big Ten, while averaging 9.6 points and 1.5 blocks per contest. Bello is third in the country in offensive rebounds per game (5), seventh in rebounds (359) and rebounds per game, and 19th in defensive rebounds per game (8). The Southfield, Mich., native has 19 games this year with at least 10 rebounds, 11 games with at least 15 rebounds, seven games with at least 18 rebounds and a career-high 21 rebounds against Rutgers on Feb. 3. She also leads the team with 11 double-doubles on the season.
As the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, the Gophers (20-9, 9-9 B1G) will open play on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT against No. 10 Indiana (19-11, 8-10) on Big Ten Network.
Bell was a consensus All-Big Ten First Team selection and was placed on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team, while Pitts earned First Team honors from the media and junior Taiye Bello was given honorable mention accolades. In addition, junior Jasmine Brunson was tabbed as the school's Sportsmanship Award representative.
It's the second straight season that Bell has been named an All-Big Ten First Team honoree by the league's coaches, who voted for her unanimously, and the media. She was also placed on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team for the second straight season, joining Amanda Zahui B. (2014, 2015) as the only two-time honorees in team history.
Bell leads the Gophers with 18.9 points per game and is also averaging 5.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.0 steals per contest. She leads the conference in steals (59) and free throws made (159) and attempted (230), ranks second in field goals made (188) and attempted (470) and is third in scoring average and steals per game. Nationally, she's fourth in the country in free throws attempted, eighth in free throw made, 24th in field goal attempts and 41st in points per game.
Pitts was named an All-Big Ten First Team honoree by the league's media and a Second Team selection by the Big Ten coaches. A year ago, she was tabbed Second Team by the media and honorable mention by the coaches, in addition to being the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
A native of Detroit, Mich., Pitts ranks second on the team at 15.7 points per game to go with 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. She's made over half of the team's 3-pointers this year, accounting for 74 of the team's 140 makes. She ranks second in the Big Ten in free throw percentage (81.7) and 3-pointers attempted (202), and third in 3-pointers made, 3-pointers made per game (2.55) and minutes played per game (35.79).
Pitts has scored at least 21 points in each of the last six games, averaging 24.0 points per game over that span while shooting 48.9 percent from the floor, 43.4 percent on 3-pointers and 91.2 percent on free throws.
Bello was a consensus All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by both the league's coaches and media, garnering the first conference accolades of her career.
She leads the team with 12.4 rebounds per game, good for second in the Big Ten, while averaging 9.6 points and 1.5 blocks per contest. Bello is third in the country in offensive rebounds per game (5), seventh in rebounds (359) and rebounds per game, and 19th in defensive rebounds per game (8). The Southfield, Mich., native has 19 games this year with at least 10 rebounds, 11 games with at least 15 rebounds, seven games with at least 18 rebounds and a career-high 21 rebounds against Rutgers on Feb. 3. She also leads the team with 11 double-doubles on the season.
As the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, the Gophers (20-9, 9-9 B1G) will open play on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT against No. 10 Indiana (19-11, 8-10) on Big Ten Network.
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