Kansas State Falls 80-61 To Minnesota In NCAA Tournament
Mar 23, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Lindsay Whalen scored 15 points and Shannon Schonrock added 14 for the seventh-seeded Gophers (23-8), who will play Sunday against No. 3 seed
Coach Pam Borton was an assistant at BC for five seasons before
Nicole Ohlde scrapped her way to 23 points for the second-seeded Wildcats (25-6), who lost last year in the second round at home to Notre Dame as a No. 3 seed. Kendra Wecker (eight points) and Laurie Koehn (three), the rest of
With
The Gophers didn't waste any time taking control, riding the endless energy of a partisan crowd of 13,425 that stayed loud the entire night. It was the sixth-largest first- or second-round attendance in the history of the tournament.
McCarville dominated in the middle, overcoming a 3-inch height disadvantage against Ohlde. McCarville continually pushed the 6-foot-5 All-American too far off the blocks to be effective, grabbing nearly every missed shot in sight and finishing her share of soft-touch layups.
Whalen, playing for the final time at Williams Arena, was her usual self in her second game back since missing more than five weeks with two broken bones in her shooting hand.
But
Minnesota made just about everything it threw up, going 7-for-13 from 3-point range and using a 31-8 run over the final 14 1/2 minutes to take a 43-17 halftime lead.
The Gophers played exhausting defense on the perimeter, too, harassing the Wildcats' guards and making entry passes to the post as difficult as possible.
The Wildcats were more competitive after halftime, but the deficit was so big that even some sloppy stretches by
Whalen put the cap on it with a nifty no-look pass to Andersson for an easy layup in the final minute.
