The Gophers women’s basketball team made relatively easy work of Massachusetts Lowell on Tuesday night at Williams Arena. The final: 82-37.
This result was not really much of a surprise for the Gophers (3-0), who were playing an overmatched and winless midmajor team in the River Hawks (0-3). The game lacked drama.
The Gophers scored the game’s first 11 points. They held UMass Lowell to two points in the first 10 minutes. Very quickly it became a matter of Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit substituting liberally, scrutinizing combinations.
Coach Dawn Plitzuweit’s Gophers led by 27 points at the half. Even a lackluster third quarter — the Gophers made just eight of 22 shots and missed all five of their three-point attempts — couldn’t prevent the home team from pushing its lead to 33 points entering the fourth.
That’s why 11 Gophers players played before halftime. Why all 15 got in the game, with 11 scoring. The Gophers shot 43.5%, had a 50-11 edge off the bench, a 46-14 edge in the paint, 21-3 off turnovers. UMass Lowell shot 25% from the floor.
And why three of the team’s four players in double figures scoring came off the bench, taking advantage of the minutes Tuesday’s game provided.
The Gophers bench scored 50 points for the second time in three games.
Taylor Woodson finished in double figures for the second time in that span. Freshmen Tori McKinney and McKenna Johnson did it for the first time in a Gophers uniform.
