Minnesota opened its 2021-22 season at Williams Arena with a sloppy up and down performance, resulting in a disappointing 66-69 loss against Jacksonville.
Facing a Dolphins program that finished 4-17 a season ago, head coach Lindsay Whalen opted to deploy a starting lineup familiar to Gophers fans with one surprise.
Junior guards Jasmine Powell and Sara Scalia started in the backcourt alongside graduate student Gadiva Hubbard. Redshirt junior forward Kadi Sissoko started in the frontcourt alongside Kansas graduate student transfer center Bailey Helgren, who was playing in her first game with the Gophers.
It was a slow start out of the gate for the Gophers. A 3-15 first-quarter shooting from the field and 0-5 from beyond the three-point line stunted their offensive success and Jacksonville took advantage.
Dolphins’ junior forward Shynia Jackson led all scorers with eight first-quarter points, while Sissoko led the Gophers with five. Minnesota trailed 9-15.
Scalia began to heat up offensively in the second quarter, leading an offensive resurgence. She added 14 points, bringing her game total to 16.
NC A&T graduate student transfer guard Deja Winters gave the Gophers 13 productive minutes off the bench, leveling Jasmine Powell at six points for the second-most on the team in the first half. Minnesota’s 6-15 shooting from the field and 5-11 from beyond the three-point line in the second resulted in a 32-29 lead heading into the half.
Out of the locker room, the Gophers started out slow. It looked like Jacksonville was getting back into the game by evening it at 45, but a 5-0 run to close the quarter extended Minnesota’s lead to 50-45.
Powell accumulated a team-high seven points in the quarter bringing her total to 13 for the game. Nearly all of the Gophers’ offensive success through 30 minutes was between Powell and Scalia, combining for 33 of the team’s 50 points.
Jacksonville would not go away, giving the Gophers trouble all of the way until the final buzzer. Eight fourth-quarter turnovers were too much for Minnesota to overcome. The Dolphins took advantage with 10 points off those turnovers and pulled away with a 66-69 victory.
Sara Scalia led the Gophers with 25 points and seven rebounds on the day to go along with three assists, while Jasmine Powell’s 15 points were second on the team and her five assists were a team-high.
The Gophers were outscored 26-12 in bench scoring and Jacksonville’s balanced attack with four different players scoring in double figures was a vastly different performance than Minnesota’s.
The Gophers will have a quick turnaround, traveling to Tempe, Arizona for a non-conference showdown with Arizona State this Friday on Nov. 19 at 8:00 p.m. (CST).
After a disappointing 2020-21 season that saw the Gophers finish 8-13, they’re expected to turn things around returning 12 of the 13 players from last year’s team as well as adding four more.
