You may recall that the Gopher women opened their season last Monday with an 89-48 rout of Central Connecticut. Friday night versus the Vermont Catamounts promised to be a tougher test and it was–for one half of basketball. Leading just 29-28 at the half after trailing 26-17, the Gophers dominated the 2nd half 45-24 to win going away at 74-52. Add in that flurry at the end of the 1st half, the Gophers closed things out by outscoring Vermont 57-26. Still, Vermont looks like a good team. They beat Missouri 62-46 at Burlington, VT, that also coming last Monday.
And in the first half Vermont looked very good indeed, running up that 26-17 at 6:12 of the 1st half. But, over those final 6 minutes of the 1st half, Amaya Battle scored a pair of layups, and Sophie Hart, Mallory Heyer, Mara Braun and Annika Stewart all scored a 2-pointer. For Heyer, it was her only bucket of the night but it was timely. She added 2 of her 7 rebounds during this 12-2 run to close the 1st half. Tori McKinney added a pair of assists. Braun’s pick-six at 0:55 got the Gophers within one (it was one of 8 steals by Braun), and Stewart closed the scoring 30 seconds later after a Catamount turnover.
As noted, the Gophers ran away in the 2nd half, though after Battle scored twice and Stewart on a 3, the Gophers still led just 36-35. The Gophers then went on a 22-6 run as Braun scored 10 points and added an emphatic steal and bucket at :01 for a 58-41 lead.
The Gophers shot OK at 48 percent (FG) 36 (3s) and, well, a not-so-good 62 percent from the line. Vermont shot OK, too, at 41, 33 and 62 percent. The game turned on the Gophers “special teams” that grabbed 10 offensive boards (to Vermont’s 6) and forced 15 Vermont turnovers (the Gophers had 9). As a result, Minnesota got off 15 more shots, and outscored the Cats 18-4 off turnovers and 9-2 on 2nd chances. That’s a 27-6 edge on “special teams.” That means that the Gophers outscored Vermont just 47-46 on a set, initial offense.
Vermont was led by 6-1 grad forward Anna Olson, from Monticello, MN, who scored 10 points in the 1st half and 14 overall. For the Gophers, Battle and Braun scored 21 points each, and each made 8-of-14 shots. Battle added 4 boards and 5 assists, Braun 4 asssists and those 8 steals. Stewart and Taylor Woodson played well off the bench, Stewart scoring 11 points, Woodson 4 points with 6 boards. Freshman Tori McKinney looked good too with 3 points and 3 assists in 12 minutes, though it’s true that Woodson, McKinney, Heyer and Grace Grocholski shot 4-for-19 among them. The Gophers look to be able to go 8 deep, but if half of them shoot 4-of-19, then is that really depth? So the Gophers overall shooting ability including FT remains a concern at this early point in the season.
The Gophers return to action Tuesday night at the Barn at 7 p.m. against UMass-Lowell. The River Hawks lost their opener at Colgate 74-62, and they play Holy Cross today (Sunday the 10th). They were just 4-25 last year. 5 of their top 6 return but with a total of just 24 ppg, and from a 4-25 team returning players might not be a strength. But to their returning nucleus they have added 5-10 freshman guard Sille-Liis Molder from Estonia, and she contributed 12 points and 5 boards at Colgate. Still, this looks more like Central Connecticut and less like Vermont. After that, things will heat up considerably as the Gophers take on Oregon State and SMU at Tempe on Saturday and Sunday November 16 and 17.
