Feb 22, 2004

Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Janel McCarville scored 20 points and Shannon Schonrock added 18 for No. 11 Minnesota in a 73-46 victory over Northwestern on Sunday. The Wildcats could not even the season series with the Golden Gophers, who jumped to a 24-4 lead early and never looked back.

"Defensively we did not respond well in the first half," said Northwestern head coach June Olkowski. "They came out shooting the ball well and we didn't answer."

The Gophers (20-5, 9-5 Big Ten) were playing their first home game since losing leading scorer Lindsay Whalen to a broken hand on Feb. 12. Freshman Kelly Roysland replaced Whalen in the starting lineup and scored 11 points. Shannon Bolden added 10 points and seven assists for Minnesota.

Alex Mueller was 4-of-6 from 3-point range and had 16 points for Northwestern (8-18, 1-14). Senior Michelle Zylstra grabbed a team-high four boards and A.J. Glasauer added six assists.

While the 'Cats were able to put together a 10-0 run to start the second to cut the lead to 14, Minnesota relied on Schonrock and McCarville to again take a sizeable lead.

"We responded well in the second," said Olkowski. "We made a run to open it, but did not sustain against a hungry Minnesota team."

The Wildcats shot over 47% overall, but had a lack of chances and fell victim to a strong U of M defense. The Golden Gophers recorded 33 rebounds and 12 steals in the game, while taking advantage of 18 Northwestern turnovers. Minnesota scored 24 points off those turnovers.

NU closes out the regular season at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Michigan.

The Associated Press contributed to this story