Gophers to Take on Jackrabbits in Second Round of WNIT

MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota (15-17, 7-11 B1G) is headed to Brookings, S.D., for the second round of the 2022 WNIT against South Dakota State University with the tip set for 2 p.m. CT on Sunday. The game can be seen on MIDCO Sports Plus and can be heard on the Gophers' radio home, 96.7 KFAN Plus.

ABOUT THIS GAME

Minnesota and SDSU are meeting for the seventh time ever and for the first time since 2014, which was also in the WNIT.
SDSU has won three straight over the Gophers with Minnesota only owning one win over the Jackrabbits in the series all the way back in 1978.
The Golden Gophers and Phoenix have not met since 2018 when the two faced off in the NCAA Tournament. That game, which was held in Eugene, Ore., ended in a 89-77 win for the Golden Gophers with Kenisha Bell scoring a game-high 26 points. Gadiva Hubbard is the only Gopher on the 2021-22 roster that has played GB, with Hubbard scoring 16 in the 2018 win and adding a game-high four steals.
Head coach Lindsay Whalen has not played against or coached against the Jackrabbits in her basketball career.
South Dakota State is playing in the WNIT for the fifth time in program history and first since 2017. The Jackrabbits are 8-4 all-time in the WNIT.
The Jackrabbits won the 2021-22 regular season Summit League crown, their eighth regular season title since joining the conference.
The Jackrabbits are 24-9 on the season and went 17-1 in the Summit League. SDSU have won 21 of its last 23 games, most recently falling to South Dakota in the championship game of the Summit League Tournament before defeating Ohio in the opening round of the WNIT.
Six Jackrabbits earned All-Summit League honors. Aaron Johnston was named Coach of the Year while Myah Selland (First Team) and Paige Meyer (Second Team, All-Newcomer Team) were selected to the all conference teams. Paiton Burckhard, Tylee Irwin and Tori Nelson were deemed honorable mention with Irwin being picked to the All-Defensive Team.
SDSU leads the nation in 3-point field goal percentage this season (38.9%) and is third in overall field goal shooting (47.9%). The Jacks are seventh in assist/ turnover ratio (1.36).

GOPHER NOTABLES

Last time out Minnesota overcame a nine-point second half deficit to come from behind and take out Green Bay (20-8, 14-4 Horizon) in the first round of the WNIT. Sara Scalia notched her fourth 30-point game of the season, scoring 17 in the fourth, to aid the Golden Gophers comeback. Scalia finished with 33 points on 11-of-26 shooting from the floor, hitting all seven of her shots at the free throw line. Scalia's performance was not the only notable one with Kadi Sissoko's third straight double double making a big difference. Sissoko finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds and had five of Minnesota's 11 offensive rebounds.
Sara Scalia was named Second Team All-Big Ten by the league's coaches and the media covering the conference. Meanwhile, Deja Winters was chosen Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by the media. In addition, redshirt senior Bailey Helgren was tabbed as the school's Sportsmanship Award representative.
Sara Scalia extended her double figures scoring streak to 22 with her performance against Green Bay. During the streak Scalia has averaged 21.0 points per game and is shooting 43.0 percent from three (87-of-202) and has averaged 4.0 made threes per game. This season Scalia ranks 8th in the Big Ten in scoring average (18.3) and is seventh during Big Ten play at 19.4 points per game.
As a team this season Minnesota has the best three-point field goal percentage in the Big Ten at 37.9 which is also good enough for the fifth best in the NCAA. On average the Maroon and Gold make 8.4 threes per game, good enough for the 23rd best mark in the nation and the third best in the conference. In total the team's 269 made threes are the second most in the Big Ten and the 16th most in the country.
Since rejoining the starting lineup, Gadiva Hubbard has found her stroke from beyond the arc. The sixth-year guard has shot 24-of-56 (42.9 percent) from three in those 11 games, making an average of 2.2 per game during that stretch.
In the team's last six wins, compared to the Gophers' last five losses in the team's 6-5 stretch, a direct corelation can be made with the rebounding battle. Minnesota has won all six games they have won the battle on the glass, and lost the rest where they were outrebounded. In wins, Minnesota held a +53 advantage on the glass versus a +38 for their opponents in losses.
Forward Kadi Sissoko has been on a double double streak since rejoining the Gophers starting lineup against Penn State (2/27). She's ripped off three straight for the Maroon and Gold, dropping career-best performances in the process including a 32-point, 14 rebound game against Penn State to end the regular season. She's averaged 22.6 points per game and 12.6 rebounds per game over the past three games.
Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen took another step toward the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Feb. 18, as the museum announced its finalists for the Class of 2022 that included the former Golden Gopher standout, WNBA great and Olympic gold medalist.

BY THE NUMBERS
3 - At 269 made threes this season the Gophers now have made the third most in a single season in school history, passing the 2019-20 team for the third most in their win over Illinois (since 1987-88).
10 - Sara Scalia has scored over 17 points in 10 straight games.
12 - Twelve different times this season a Gopher has scored 12 or more points in a single quarter including six times by Sara Scalia and three times by Deja Winters.
33 - Scalia's 33 points against Green Bay goes down as the most points a Gopher has scored in their postseason debut, eclipsing head coach Lindsay Whalen's 29 points in the 2002 NCAA Tournament against UNLV.
14 - The Gophers came from behind in the fourth quarter against Green Bay for the first time this season, snapping a 14-game losing streak when trailing heading into the fourth quarter this season.

The 2022 WNIT runs from March 16-April 2, with the WNIT Championship being broadcasted nationally on CBS Sports Network. The winner of the Minnesota-South Dakota State game will take on the winner of Drake-Northern Iowa. All of Minnesota's games 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.

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Players Mentioned

Bailey Helgren

Gadiva Hubbard

Sara Scalia

Kadi Sissoko

Deja Winters