Gopher Women Top Michigan State

MINNEAPOLIS (Gophersports.com) – The University of Minnesota (18-6, 7-5) women’s basketball team used a strong second half to pick up an 86-79 victory against Michigan State (11-13, 3-10) Sunday afternoon in front of 6,570 fans at Williams Arena for its annual Breast Cancer Awareness Game. Freshman Carlie Wagner posted career-highs with 25 points and five three-point field goals to lead the Golden Gophers to the victory.

Amanda Zahui B. notched her 17th double-double of the season with 18 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, while Shae Kelley picked up her ninth double-double of the year with 16 points, 13 rebounds and a career-best five assists.

With her third block of the game, Zahui surpassed former Gopher Janel McCarville’s career record of 196 blocks to become Minnesota’s all-time blocks leader. She finished the contest with her 199th career block and now has her sights set on her own single-season blocks record of 105 that she set last season as a freshman. With 94 blocks on the year, the sophomore needs just 12 blocks to claim the record for the second-straight year.

The Gophers shot .545 (12-22) from the field and .429 (6-14) from three-point range in the second half of play to outscore the Spartans 49-42 in the stanza, thanks in large part to the play of Wagner. The rookie connected on 6 of her 10 attempts from the floor to score 21 of her 25 points in the final 20 minutes of play.

A slow start to the first half put the Gophers down by 10 points, but a three-pointer from Shayne Mullaney, who would finish with nine points and seven assists, sparked a 14-2 run that put the home team on top of the Spartans for the first time in the contest, 21-19. Michigan State followed with a 13-2 run to go back ahead by nine points, but a three-pointer at the buzzer by Zahui tied the game, 37-37, at halftime.

The two squads tied the score five different times to open the second half of play, before a 22-6 run by Minnesota gave the home team a 16-point advantage, 74-58, its largest of the game, with eight minutes to play and would hang on for the victory.

The Gophers conclude their two-game homestand Wednesday night with a Border Battle rematch against Wisconsin at 7 p.m.