Winters Drops 20 as Gophers Fall to No. 10/9 Maryland at Home

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota (8-8, 1-3 B1G) returned to Williams Arena for the first time in 25 days and ultimately fell to No. 10/9 Maryland (12-4, 4-1 B1G) 87-73 on Sunday afternoon. Guard Deja Winters led the Golden Gophers with 20 points and six threes while Sara Scalia (19) and Kadi Sissoko (15) also scored in double figures.

Without head coach Lindsay Whalen (appendectomy) for the second straight game and without All-Big Ten guard Jasmine Powell the Gophers put a scare into the top-10 ranked Terrapins at the Barn. The team shot its second best field goal percentage of the season as a team (46.9 percent) to keep pace with the visitors for three quarters.

The opening quarter was Maryland's best offensively, scoring 24 points on 62.5 percent shooting (10-of-16) to race out to a 24-14 lead after 10 minutes of play. After being at 14-12 at the first quarter media timeout with threes from Winters and Scalia, the Terrapins scored 10 of the final 12 points of the quarter and held the Gophers to 33.3 percent from the floor.

The second quarter saw a three-point barrage from Winters with the Cleveland, Ohio, native hitting four straight threes for Minnesota to pull the hosts to within three of the high powered Terrapins. Maryland quickly responded with two threes of their own from Ashley Owusu to go back up nine, but the Maroon and Gold kept fighting and came to within two of the quarter. By the time the two sides headed to the locker room it was 41-36 with the Gophers holding Maryland to 37.5 percent shooting in the second quarter while Minnesota shot 50 percent in the frame and 41.7 percent in the first half.

The Terrapins regained control early in the third quarter by scoring the first four points but an and-one by Sissoko slowed down the Maryland momentum. Minnesota then got back-to-back buckets from Scalia to force a Maryland timeout to stop the 7-0 run. The Maroon and Gold came within one point of the Terrapins in the third after yet another Winters triple, but Maryland responded with an 8-0 run and went into the fourth quarter up seven.

After coming as close as five points to the Terrapins in the fourth it was a 7-0 run right at the final media timeout of the day that pulled Maryland away from the Gophers.

Individually Winters' six threes is the most she has had as a Golden Gopher, and just one shy of her career high that she set at North Carolina A&T. As a team the Gophers out rebounded the Terrapins who came into Sunday's contest as the second best rebounding team in the Big Ten and finished the game perfect from the free throw line (5-of-5).

Notably Alanna Micheaux had a career high 12 rebounds in the loss, seven of which were on the offensive glass, also a career high for the Michigan native. Micheaux finished with eight points, just shy of her first career double double. Also contributing was Alexia Smith off the bench, scoring six points on 3-of-7 shooting. Also coming off the bench was Bailey Helgren and Gadiva Hubbard who both handed out four assists, a season high for Helgren.

Minnesota has a quick turnaround when the team travels down to Wisconsin (3-11, 0-4 B1G) on Wednesday, Jan. 12. The game, which can be seen on B1G+, tips at 6:30 p.m. CT. Fans can, as always, listen to Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist on KFAN+.

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2021-22 season.

GAME NOTES
Sara Scalia has scored in double figures six straight games, the second longest streak of her career; Deja Winters 12 points in the second quarter marked the sixth time this season a Gopher has scored 12 or more points in one quarter; Gadiva Hubbard passed Marty Dahlen on the Gophers' all-time scoring list for No. 15 in Minnesota history at 1,346 points; Hubbard also passed Shannon Schonrock for the third most threes made in school history at 231; Sunday's loss is just the second time the Gophers have been defeated this season when scoring more than 70 points (5-2 overall); Winters' 20-point performance makes it five different players this season that have scored 20 or more points for Minnesota.

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