Gophers guards Jasmine Powell, Sara Scalia are healthy again, critical to team's success

A recent Gophers women's basketball practice was nearing its end, and it was loud. A 16-player roster and multiple coaches can make a bit of noise.

In a scrimmage against the male practice players, two plays stood out:

Moments later, Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen: "I'm optimistic. Cautiously optimistic."

Thanks to the extra year awarded players who played through last year's COVID-19-shortened season, the 2021-22 Gophers women's roster, when gathered around the court watching the action, looks like a cast of thousands.

Every player who scored a point last season, save one, is back. Whalen has added more depth and experience with physical 5-11 guard Deja Winters and 6-5 center Bailey Helgren, grad transfers from North Carolina A&T and Kansas.

Starting with Sunday's exhibition opener against Minnesota Crookston at Williams Arena, fans — finally allowed back in the building — will see fierce competition for minutes both in the backcourt and in the post.

But, more closely, watch Powell and Scalia — two members of Whalen's first recruiting class, a backcourt pair almost from the time they walked in the door, two players who battled injuries through a difficult 8-13 season in 2020-21.

"I definitely think we're one of the strongest backcourts in the Big Ten,'' Powell said. "Me and Sara, we're a dynamic duo. That's why I'm so excited about this year. We're both healthy, and both plan on staying that way.' "

Playing through pain

Both players were on Big Ten all-freshman teams. Last year both averaged 14.5 points. Powell was named second-team all-Big Ten by the coaches. Scalia was conference honorable mention. Both expect more this season. Powell, always goal-oriented, wants to make first-team all-conference and win Big Ten defensive player of the year.

Scalia wants to prove she can do more than just spot up behind the three-point line.

Both want to prove how good the Gophers can be after last season, when COVID-19 concerns derailed the team's practices for nearly a month and forced Whalen to coach the first game with just seven healthy players, the second game with eight.

One of the traits Whalen admires most is toughness. Well, here's toughness:

A year ago in August 2020, Scalia, a notorious gym rat, was getting herself in great shape when she started feeling pain in her legs. It was stress reactions in both shins, shutting her down for six weeks. She missed the first two games, played in the third after only two practices and was just starting to feel good when, in the first half of a win in Wisconsin, she separated her right (shooting) shoulder colliding with a Badgers player trying to go around a pick.

For a few games she took numbing injections. After that, she played through the pain, until a hard fall in practice forced her to miss the season's final game.

Powell? She sprained her left ankle the day before a game against Iowa, but played anyway. She tweaked it warming up for the next game, but taped it and played. Ultimately, she hurt it again against Maryland and missed the final three games.

For both, it was a new experience. For Scalia, being forced to rest — rest! — for six weeks had her climbing the walls. Powell had never faced such a chronic injury.

But then, a glimmer: In a 5-2 stretch in the conference the Gophers showed their potential. Scalia, finding her stride, averaged 18.6 points and made 40.3% of her threes during that time, which included a 30-point game against Purdue and two others of 20 or more points. Powell? Even with her ankle hurting, she averaged 13.3 points and 5.3 assists in that stretch.

"It shows we both have heart,'' Powell said. "It shows how hard we go, every day.''

There were other injuries, notably to Gadiva Hubbard, who was never the same after a badly sprained ankle sustained in a victory over Penn State.

But then — as now — the team revolves around what Powell and Scalia are doing.

"Those two guys — and [Hubbard] — have to really bring it every day,'' Whalen said. "A lot of responsibility is on their shoulders, no question. But that's why they came here. That's what they want.''

Whalen, of course, is expecting a lot more from both Powell and Scalia this year. She wants Powell to be more efficient, improve her .369 shooting percentage from last year. She wants Powell to attack left more. Whalen wants Scalia — who ranks 10th in program history in three-point shooting at .353 — to be more aggressive, make defenders pay for running her off the three-point line. She wants Scalia to finish better at the rim and find space in the midrange.

So far, so good. "JP has gotten a lot better with her decision-making and her shot selection,'' Hubbard said of Powell. "Sara is still working on those NBA threes. [But] Sara has gotten a lot better at getting to the basket and finishing. You should see some of the finishes that she's had in practice. I was like, 'How did that even go in?'"

Both say they're ready. Is the whole team?

"We have strides to take defensively,'' Powell said. "We all know we can score.''

Said Scalia: "It's the chemistry of the whole team putting it together. I think it's going to be really good."