Madison, Wis. – Freshman guard Jasmine Powell nearly matched Wisconsin point-for-point in the first half and finished with a season-high 24 points as the Gophers beat the Badgers 73-64 on Thursday night in Big Ten women's basketball.
Powell had 17 points in the opening half, when the Gophers took a 43-19 lead.
"Our point of emphasis was to keep going at them until they stopped me — and they didn't," Powell said on the Gopher Radio Network.
This was the third win in a row for the Gophers (15-8, 5-7 Big Ten) and seventh straight at the Kohl Center. It avenged their 72-62 loss to Wisconsin at the Barn on Jan. 22 when the Badgers broke their 13-game losing streak in the border rivalry.
Sara Scalia had 16 points for the Gophers and Masha Adashchyk 15. Kehinde Bello, a 6-2 senior forward making her first career start, scored only four points but had a career- and game-high 12 rebounds. Abby Laszewski led the Badgers with 25 points and seven rebounds.
Wisconsin (11-12, 3-9) outscored Minnesota 25-16 in the third quarter, helped by 12 points off turnovers to close within 15. The margin shrunk to eight points, 64-56, with 2:40 left.
But Adashchyk responded with a three-pointer and, after Wisconsin coach Jonathan Tsipis was called for a technical foul, Powell made two free throws for a 68-56 lead.
"That three she hit was huge for us," Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen said. "We needed every rebound, every point."
Whalen said she liked her team's play in the first half, not so much in the second: "We've got work to do."
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