Minnesota Matches Up with Penn State Monday in Happy Valley

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota women's basketball concludes its two-game road swing Monday as it visits Penn State (4-6, 1-5 B1G) at 5 p.m.

The game, which is the second of two matchups between the schools this year, will be televised on Big Ten Network and can be heard on the Gophers' radio home, 96.7 FM KFAN Plus.

THE OPENING TIP-OFF

• The teams met just 15 days ago in Minneapolis with the Lady Lions prevailing, 69-60. Further information about that game and the all-time series can be found below. This will be the first rematch for the Gophers this year. They still have follow-up contests to go with Iowa, Wisconsin, Maryland and Nebraska and two games to play against both Michigan and Illinois.

• Jasmine Powell leads the Gophers with a scoring average of 17.1 points per game this season. She has scored at least 11 points in each of the last 12 games dating to last season and has made three or more 3-pointers in five straight contests. In addition to her scoring prowess, which ranks 13th in the Big Ten, Powell is third in the conference and 15th nationally with her 5.9 assists per game.

• In the season opener, Kadi Sissoko scored 24 points in her first game at Minnesota to tie a school record for points a Gophers debut (Kenisha Bell vs. VCU, 11/15/16). Owner of two double-doubles in her last five games, Sissoko is second in the Big Ten in offensive rebounds per game (3.70) and is the team's top rebounder (6.8).

• After missing the first two games of the season, Sara Scalia averaged 8.0 points over her first three contests and was shooting 23.5 percent from the floor (8-34) and 20 percent on 3-pointers (4-20). However, she has averaged 14.3 points over the last four contests, including a season-high 18 points at Iowa on Jan. 6, while shooting 36.0 percent on field goals (18-50) and 36.1 percent on 3's (13-36). She missed the Jan. 10 contest with Penn State but has scored 14 points in each of her last two games.

• Klarke Sconiers has posted back-to-back games in double figures for the first time in her career with 13 points against Maryland on Jan. 14 and 10 at Nebraska on Jan. 19. She now has three games in her career with at least 10 points, also doing so in the season opener against Eastern Illinois where she posted a career-high 14 points.

• The Gophers have four players averaging double figures in Big Ten play with Powell leading the way at 16.0 points per game. Scalia is behind her at 11.6 along with Gadiva Hubbard (10.8). Sissoko is averaging 10.5 points per game and a team-best 6.4 rebounds per contest in league play.

• The Gophers are 2-2 on the road this season with wins at Wisconsin and Nebraska and losses to Northwestern and Iowa. Like she is for the season and league play, Powell is the team's top scorer on the road at 14.8 points per game. Meanwhile, Sissoko is nearly averaging a double-double away from home with 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. In fact, her two double-doubles this season both came on the road with 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Badgers and 20 points and 10 rebounds vs. the Hawkeyes. Also averaging double figures for Minnesota on the road are Hubbard (12.8) and Scalia (12.3).

FACING PENN STATE

• Minnesota and Penn State meet for the 51st time on Monday. The Lady Lions hold a 29-21 edge in the series, but the Gophers have won six of the last seven matchups and nine of the past 11.

• In University Park, Penn State leads the series 17-6, but the Gophers have won two straight at Bryce Jordan Center and three of the last four.

• Prior to the loss on Jan. 10, the Gophers' six-game win streak in the series was their second longest active streak against one team and tied for their ninth-longest streak ever against one team. During the six-game stretch, Minnesota won by an average margin of nearly 20 points (87.5-68.2).

• Penn State head coach Carolyn Kieger is a native of Roseville, Minn., and attended Roseville High School.

• Minnesota freshman Alexia Smith and Penn State freshman Nyam Thornton were high school teammates at Columbus Africentric Early College in Ohio.

• Penn State enters the game 4-6 on the season and 1-5 in Big Ten play. The Lady Lions won their first three games of the season but have since dropped six of their last seven contests. Their most recent game scheduled for Thursday at Rutgers was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns with the Scarlet Knights' program.

• Kelly Jekot is the team's leading scorer at 15.9 points per game but she suffered an injury last week and will miss the rest of the season. Makenna Marisa (13.1) and Johnasia Cash (12.3) are also in double figures for the Lady Lions, and Cash is also the team's leading rebounder at 7.9 boards per game.

• As a team, Penn State ranks second in the Big Ten in opponent 3-point percentage (.239).

EARLIER THIS SEASON AGAINST THE LADY LIONS

• Minnesota saw its recent success over Penn State come to an end on Jan. 10 with a 69-60 loss to the Lady Lions at Williams Arena.

• The Golden Gophers had won six in a row in the series and five straight at home, but Penn State used a strong third quarter to score the win.

• Jasmine Powell led all scorers with 19 points, and she tied Klarke Sconiers for the team lead with six rebounds. Also in double figures for Minnesota was Laura Bagwell Katalinich, who had 12 points and five boards.

• Kayla Mershon had six points and four rebounds as she made her first start as a Gopher, while freshman Katie Borowicz, who joined the team as an early enrollee on Jan. 2, made her collegiate debut with two points, two assists, a rebound and a steal.

• After a tight first quarter in which neither team led by more than three, Penn State opened up a 25-18 lead in the second quarter. Minnesota responded, though, with an 8-0 run that turned into a 13-1 stretch. Ten of the 13 points belonged to Powell.

• The Gophers took a 34-33 lead into halftime, but the Lady Lions opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run in the first two minutes of the second half. Minnesota was able to cut the deficit down to five, twice in the frame, but Penn State outscored the Gophers, 21-10, to take a 54-44 lead into the fourth.

• A 3-pointer from Powell cut the lead to 57-51 with 6:10 to play in the game, but Minnesota would get no closer than that.

• Penn State was led by Kelly Jekot's 15 points, while Johnasia Cash had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Maddie Burke added 13 points.

LAST TIME IN UNIVERSITY PARK

• The Golden Gophers rode a hot start to an 81-74 victory at Penn State on Dec. 28, 2019.

• Sara Scalia (22) and Destiny Pitts (21) each eclipsed the 20-point mark to lead the Gophers' offense.

• Scalia scored 10 points in the first quarter and had 15 in the first half. She set a career high with five 3-pointers made and added four assists and seven rebounds.

• Minnesota, which never trailed, outscored the Lady Lions 28-10 in the opening quarter. It was the team's highest scoring opening quarter last season and tied for its third highest overall. The team shot 73 percent from the floor in the frame and held PSU to 18 percent shooting.

• The second quarter was nearly a repeat as the Golden Gophers held a 26-11 edge in the frame to lead 54-21 at halftime. It tied for the most points Minnesota scored in any half a year ago and was the team's largest halftime lead. Minnesota shot 64 percent in the half, while Penn State was limited to 21 percent.

• Penn State climbed back into the game, though, in the third quarter by outscoring Minnesota, 19-8. The lead was 62-40 for Minnesota heading into the fourth quarter, but the Lady Lions kept fighting. They held a 34-19 edge in the frame. Penn State opened the fourth on a 14-5 run before a clutch 3-pointer from Scalia stopped the comeback and preserved the win.

RECAPPING THE WIN AT NEBRASKA

• Minnesota held Nebraska to just 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Gophers earned a hard-fought, 76-71 win Tuesday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

• Gadiva Hubbard led four Gophers in double figures with 18 points, 15 of which came in the second half and 12 in the fourth quarter alone. She also tallied seven rebounds, one off a career high.

• Hubbard was 5-of-9 on 3-pointers, leading a long-range attack for Minnesota that saw the team finish 15-of-32 on 3's. Sara Scalia was 4-of-10, while Jasmine Powell made three of eight shots as the Gophers made the fourth most 3-pointers in team history and the most in the Lindsay Whalen coaching era. The 32 attempts also tied for the most under Whalen, while the 46.9 percent shot in the game was a season best.

• Powell finished with 15 points and five assists, while Scalia recorded 14 points and a career-high six assists. As a team, the Gophers had 18 assists on 24 made field goals and committed only seven turnovers, a season low and a figure that tied for the seventh fewest in program history.

• Also in double figures was Klarke Sconiers, who finished with 10 points. Kadi Sissoko nearly had her third double-double of the season with eight points and a team-high nine rebounds, including five offensive.

• Nebraska led by as many as 10 in the first half and was up by two entering the fourth quarter. The Huskers extended the lead to five, but Hubbard broke through with a 3-pointer to kickstart an 8-0 run.

• The Huskers evened the game back up at 68-68 with 1:10 to go, but Hubbard knocked down her third 3-pointer of the quarter to put the Gophers ahead for good with 49 seconds remaining. Hubbard's 12 points in the fourth were the most by a Gopher in any quarter this season, while Nebraska's 10 points were the fewest by an opponent this year.

• After shooting 53.1 percent in the first half, the Huskers were held to just 24.2 percent shooting in the second half, including 14.3 percent in the fourth quarter, missing 18 of 21 shots in the final quarter.

POWELL IMPROVING HER MARK FROM LONG RANGE

• Sophomore Jasmine Powell has improved her 3-point shooting between the first two years of her career.

• As a freshman, Powell was 30-of-100 on 3-pointers, shooting 30 percent from long range and making 0.96 3-pointers per contest.

• But this year, she's already 27-of-76 on 3's, shooting 35.5 percent and making 2.7 per game.

• She ranks third in the Big Ten in 3's made, 3's attempted and 3's made per game, while she is ninth in 3-point percentage.

• This season, Powell has made at least two 3-pointers in every game but one, including seven games with at least three made and two games of a career-high four made 3's. She's made at least thee 3-pointers in each of her last five outings.

GOPHERS ENDURING CHALLENGING START TO SCHEDULE

• Minnesota is 3-7 to start the season and 2-6 in Big Ten play, though the team has started the season against a difficult schedule.

• The 10 teams the Gophers have played have a combined record of 71-45 (.612), including a 55-23 (.705) mark for the teams against which they've lost.

• The .612 opponent win percentage for Minnesota is the fourth highest among Big Ten teams.

• The Gophers will have played six of their eight league games against teams ranked eighth or better in the current standings.

• Five of the six losses in Big Ten play have come against teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the AP Top 25: No. 9 Maryland (11-1), No. 18 Indiana (8-3), 22 Northwestern (7-2), RV Michigan State (8-2) and RV Iowa (8-3).

GOPHERS GAINING EXPERIENCE WITH YOUNG ROSTER

• With 10 of its 13 players either freshmen or sophomores, no team in the Big Ten has a higher percentage of its roster comprised of underclassmen than Minnesota's 76.9 percent. Wisconsin (73.3 percent) is the only other team at 70 percent or higher.

• Through Jan. 21, the Gophers' roster had played a combined 9,441 minutes, which ranks ninth in the Big Ten. For comparison, Purdue leads the conference with a combined 16,350 minutes and Monday's opponent, Penn State, is sixth at 11,860.

• Redshirt senior Gadiva Hubbard (3,150) accounts for over a third of the Gophers' career minutes herself. The other two upperclassmen are graduate transfer Laura Bagwell Katalinich (1,633) and junior Kayla Mershon (1,004). Bagwell Katalinich missed the first three games this season due to injury, while Mershon sat out the first four due to NCAA transfer rules. Those three combine for nearly two-thirds of the Gophers' career minutes (5,787 minutes; 61.3 percent).

• Of the 13 Gophers on the roster this year, six are playing in their first season of collegiate basketball and three are playing in their first year at Minnesota.

• If the minutes are limited to only in their time within the program, the Gophers have a combined 6,863, which would rank 12th in the conference, and Hubbard would account for 45.9 percent of those minutes.

• Meanwhile, Hubbard (-2.3 minutes per game) and Sara Scalia (-2.2) have seen their playing time stay relatively similar to last year, while Jasmine Powell (+8.2) and Klarke Sconiers (+8.9) have both seen notable increases in their playing time.

SISSOKO, SCONIERS AMONG BIG TEN'S MOST IMPROVED

• Kadi Sissoko has recorded the biggest increase in rebounding average in all of the Big Ten from her last season of competition and one of the best improvements in scoring.

• As a freshman at Syracuse in 2018-19, Sissoko averaged 1.8 rebounds per game. But this year, her rebounding average stands at 6.8. That increase of 5.0 rebounds per game is first in the conference. Meanwhile, Klarke Sconiers' rebounding average has gone from 1.6 to 4.8 to rank 11th.

• Sissoko is also among the most improved scorers in the league as she has gone from 3.2 points per game as a freshman to 12.0 this year, an increase of 8.8 that is fourth-best in the league.

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Players Mentioned

Laura Bagwell Katalinich

Kenisha Bell

Katie Borowicz

Gadiva Hubbard

Kayla Mershon

Destiny Pitts

Jasmine Powell

Sara Scalia

Klarke Sconiers

Kadi Sissoko

Alexia Smith