Gophers women see win streak end with loss at Rutgers

Minnesota (7-10, 6-9 Big Ten) saw its two-game winning streak come to an end Wednesday night with an 83-56 loss at Rutgers (9-3, 5-3 B1G) in Piscataway, N.J.

Sophomore Klarke Sconiers was Minnesota’s top scorer and rebounder, going for 13 points and eight boards. It was her fifth career game in double figures, all of which have come this year, and she finished one point off her career high of 14 set in this year’s season opener against Eastern Illinois.

Fellow sophomore Sara Scalia also reached double figures with 12 points, and she added three assists.

The Gophers also welcomed back senior Gadiva Hubbard, who had missed the previous five games due to an injury suffered late at Penn State on Jan. 25. She was a perfect 3-of-3 from the floor in her return, including hitting a pair of 3-pointers, to finish with eight points.

The eight points gave her 1,207 for her career to pass Destiny Pitts (1,203) for 17th on the Gophers’ all-time scoring list, while Hubbard’s two 3-pointers raised her career total to an even 200. That moved her ahead of Katie Ohm (199) for sixth in program history.

Sconiers and Hubbard each had six points in the opening quarter as Rutgers held a 21-16 following the first 10 minutes. The Scarlet Knights opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer to extend their lead to eight but Minnesota held a 10-3 edge over the next four-plus minutes to get back within one.

Sconiers hit a free throw, while sophomore Jasmine Powell, who had a game-high five assists, added a 3-point play for four Gophers points. Sconiers added another basket in-between a Rutgers free throw and layup, while Scalia knocked down one of two free throws before Powell added another 3-point play, getting Minnesota within 27-26 with 5:24 remaining in the opening half.

Unfortunately, Rutgers then scored 11 of the final 13 points of the first half and led 38-28 at halftime. That was followed by a 22-11 advantage for the Scarlet Knights in the third quarter, and they led by double digits for nearly the entire second half.

Diamond Johnson led Rutgers with a game-high 26 points, while Arella Guirantes added 22 and Tekia Mack had 12.

Despite shooting 44.7 percent from the field, Minnesota was done in by its 22 turnovers, which led to 35 Rutgers points.

Minnesota stays on the east coast for Saturday’s matchup against No. 9/10 Maryland. Tipoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT.

Courtesy: Gopher Sports Information