Gophers "board" up first conference win streak

BY MIKE PEDEN

Gophers head coach Pam Borton said her team forgot what it felt like to a win a game after the Gophers defeated Northwestern Thursday night. Now Minnesota will have to remember what a winning streak feels like after they scraped out a 60-50 win over Michigan Sunday at Williams Arena.

No player scored more than 13 points for the game, but Minnesota (10-12, 2-7) once again took advantage of out-rebounding their opponent, 42-31 in this case. Freshman forward Kionna Kellogg scooped 13 of those and tied her career high in points with 8.

"We were getting outrebounded at halftime because she was on the bench," Borton said. "She brings us a lot of toughness."

The rest of the Gophers followed suit, as they held together to prevent another double-digit lead from fading at home.

Minnesota began in front as they found success early by attacking the lane and draining several threes, sinking nine of their first 14 field goals. Their touch on pull-up jumpers faded midway through the first, and Minnesota finished the first half making only two of their last 15 attempts. Although that funk kept Michigan (13-8, 6-3) within striking distance, Michigan only shot 28 percent from the floor in the first and faced a 31-22 deficit at halftime.

Michigan trimmed the lead as Minnesota's struggles from the floor persisted. Twice in the second half, the Wolverines pulled within 1 and had two chances to tie the game with a three-pointer. After Michigan center Rachel Sheffer missed the second try with five minutes to go, Minnesota guard China Antoine changed the momentum with a lay-up on the other end. Michigan would not come within one possession for the remainder of the game. Not even Katie Loberg and Kiara Buford fouling out affected Minnesota's odds of notching their first conference winning streak as they won the subsequent round of foul-and-chase.

"China was a great leader. She's taken a lot of pride to being our hound on the ball," Borton said.

"We had good shot selection, moved the ball where we wanted to move in the second half. Just didn't make them," said Michigan head coach Kevin Borseth.

While the Gophers are still far behind the Big Ten leaders, their defeat of the Wolverines knocked them out of a first-place tie with Penn State and Wisconsin in the conference standings. Borseth went to his 29 years of experience to address the Wolverines about the implications.

"You lost the game, don't lose the lesson," he said. "I told the kids at the beginning of the year they'd be lucky to win one game. So far, they've won 13."