University of Minnesota Athletics
Sunday, February 6
2:00 PM
University of Minnesota
11-13,4-8Big Ten
71
vs
60
Michigan State
12-10,6-5Big Ten
1
2
3
4
F
Michigan St.
17
15
18
10
60
Minnesota
14
22
23
12
71
Photo by: Eric Miller
Scalia Scores 24 as Gophers Down Spartans 71-60 at Home
2/6/2022 4:41:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota (11-13, 4-8 B1G) picked up its second Big Ten victory in three games on Sunday with a 71-60 win over Michigan State (12-10, 6-5 B1G) at Williams Arena. Led by Sara Scalia's 24 points, six rebounds and four assists, the Gophers outscored the Spartans by 12 in the second and third quarter to pull off the victory at the Barn.
Scalia's 24 points marks the 14th game in a row the Stillwater, Minn., native has scored in double figures, a career long streak, and it gives her eight games this year scoring 20 or more points. Alexia Smith scored her most points against a Big Ten opponent with 13 off the bench while Deja Winters scored 10 points as well.
Minnesota dug itself a hole early in the contest with Michigan State scoring the first eight points of the contest before the Gophers closed the quarter with nine of the final 11 points to pull back to 17-14. Down 10-3, Scalia went on to score the Gophers final 11 points of the quarter to pull Minnesota back into the game.
The second quarter saw momentum fully swing in favor of the Maroon and Gold. Starting off with a Smith and-one, Minnesota erupted for an 8-0 run that extended from the end of the first quarter. As a team the Gophers were moving the ball well early with seven of their first 10 shots being assisted and the lead grew to as much as seven at 31-24. MSU responded with six straight points in the quarter to pull within one before Smith hit a shot in the corner to put Minnesota up by two possessions heading into the locker room at 36-32. Outscoring the Spartans 22-15, the Gophers shot 50 percent from the floor in the second quarter and hit six of their 14 shots from beyond the arc in the first half.
After the teams went back and forth for the first three minutes of the second half it was an and-one by Smith that sparked an 11-0 Minnesota run to push the lead to a game-high 15 points at 56-41. During the run four different Gophers scored including four from Edina, Minn., native Bailey Helgren. By the end of the quarter the Spartans had pulled the game back to a single-digit game at 59-50.
In the fourth Michigan State came as close as six points off a DeeDee Hagemann triple with 9:13 to go, but Minnesota continually made shots down the stretch to keep the Spartans at arms length. In a clutch moment with 6:38 to go in the fourth, Helgren made a pair of plays that ended up being a five-point swing for the Maroon and Gold. Helgren blocked a wide open Spartan shot on one end of the floor and raced to the other side where she snagged an offensive rebound and found Winters in the corner to put Minnesota up 64-53. The rest of the game was salted away by Scalia hitting five free throws and giving Minnesota its second-straight home win.
Collectively Minnesota shot 25-of-64 (39.1 percent) from the floor while hitting 8-of-25 from deep. The Gophers won the rebound battle 39-36, which included a 13-7 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Minnesota will play No. 21/24 Iowa (15-5, 9-2 B1G) on the road in their next game on Feb. 9, at 6:30 p.m. The game, that was previously scheduled to be played on Feb. 10, will be broadcast on B1G+ and can be heard 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: Gadiva Hubbard passed head coach Lindsay Whalen for the fifth-most minutes played at Minnesota on Sunday afternoon; Alexia Smith's 13 points is the most she has scored against a Big Ten opponent in her career, eclipsing her 11-point performance against Illinois (3/5/21); Minnesota's two best games on the offensive glass during the Big Ten season have been against Michigan State with 19 coming on Jan. 23 and 17 coming on Sunday night; Minnesota has now made over 200 threes this season as a team, 204 to be exact, passing the 2016-17 team for the fifth most in a single season.
Scalia's 24 points marks the 14th game in a row the Stillwater, Minn., native has scored in double figures, a career long streak, and it gives her eight games this year scoring 20 or more points. Alexia Smith scored her most points against a Big Ten opponent with 13 off the bench while Deja Winters scored 10 points as well.
Minnesota dug itself a hole early in the contest with Michigan State scoring the first eight points of the contest before the Gophers closed the quarter with nine of the final 11 points to pull back to 17-14. Down 10-3, Scalia went on to score the Gophers final 11 points of the quarter to pull Minnesota back into the game.
The second quarter saw momentum fully swing in favor of the Maroon and Gold. Starting off with a Smith and-one, Minnesota erupted for an 8-0 run that extended from the end of the first quarter. As a team the Gophers were moving the ball well early with seven of their first 10 shots being assisted and the lead grew to as much as seven at 31-24. MSU responded with six straight points in the quarter to pull within one before Smith hit a shot in the corner to put Minnesota up by two possessions heading into the locker room at 36-32. Outscoring the Spartans 22-15, the Gophers shot 50 percent from the floor in the second quarter and hit six of their 14 shots from beyond the arc in the first half.
After the teams went back and forth for the first three minutes of the second half it was an and-one by Smith that sparked an 11-0 Minnesota run to push the lead to a game-high 15 points at 56-41. During the run four different Gophers scored including four from Edina, Minn., native Bailey Helgren. By the end of the quarter the Spartans had pulled the game back to a single-digit game at 59-50.
In the fourth Michigan State came as close as six points off a DeeDee Hagemann triple with 9:13 to go, but Minnesota continually made shots down the stretch to keep the Spartans at arms length. In a clutch moment with 6:38 to go in the fourth, Helgren made a pair of plays that ended up being a five-point swing for the Maroon and Gold. Helgren blocked a wide open Spartan shot on one end of the floor and raced to the other side where she snagged an offensive rebound and found Winters in the corner to put Minnesota up 64-53. The rest of the game was salted away by Scalia hitting five free throws and giving Minnesota its second-straight home win.
Collectively Minnesota shot 25-of-64 (39.1 percent) from the floor while hitting 8-of-25 from deep. The Gophers won the rebound battle 39-36, which included a 13-7 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Minnesota will play No. 21/24 Iowa (15-5, 9-2 B1G) on the road in their next game on Feb. 9, at 6:30 p.m. The game, that was previously scheduled to be played on Feb. 10, will be broadcast on B1G+ and can be heard 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: Gadiva Hubbard passed head coach Lindsay Whalen for the fifth-most minutes played at Minnesota on Sunday afternoon; Alexia Smith's 13 points is the most she has scored against a Big Ten opponent in her career, eclipsing her 11-point performance against Illinois (3/5/21); Minnesota's two best games on the offensive glass during the Big Ten season have been against Michigan State with 19 coming on Jan. 23 and 17 coming on Sunday night; Minnesota has now made over 200 threes this season as a team, 204 to be exact, passing the 2016-17 team for the fifth most in a single season.
Team Stats
MSU
MINN
FG%
.375
.391
3FG%
.409
.320
FT%
.750
.867
RB
36
39
TO
17
12
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Pts
24
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
8
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
C
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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