Gophers overcome slow start in defeating Georgetown in women's basketball

The Gophers women's basketball team warmed up to the task at hand on Friday.

The Gophers trailed by one point after the first quarter before dominating the second and third quarters en route to a 68-60 victory over Georgetown at Williams Arena.

Carlie Wagner had 21 points and six rebounds as the Gophers improved to 3-0.

"I think we just had to settle in. They jumped out on us a little bit on some of our offensive sets, and we didn't handle it well," Gophers coach Marlene Stollings said. "I think Joanna [Hedstrom] came in and gave us a big lift, and she really opened things up with the screening actions and got a couple of three-pointers and that helped us as well."

Georgetown (1-2) led 14-13 after one quarter, but the Gophers outscored the Hoyas 44-26 in the middle two quarters to take a 57-40 lead into the fourth quarter.

Freshman guard Gadiva Hubbard contributed 14 points and sophomore guard Kenisha Bell had 10 points and 10 assists for the Gophers.

Hedstrom, a senior from Minnetonka, had six points, four rebounds and three steals. Hedstrom's three-pointer with 7:09 left in the second gave the Gophers a 21-20 lead. The Gophers didn't trail after that.

"It's so exciting to have Kenisha back on the floor," Wagner said. "You can notice a change when she comes into the game. She brings so much energy on the offensive end and defensive end. She just sees the floor so well and opens up a lot of things on the floor."

The Gophers, who were outrebounded 49-33, had eight steals while forcing the Hoyas into 21 turnovers. The Hoyas shot just 37 percent from the field (33 percent in the first half).

Dionna White (18 points, nine rebounds) and Dorothy Adomako (17 points, 11 rebounds) led Georgetown. Faith Woodard added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

"I'm very proud of our team for starting the season off 3-0," Stollings said. "Harvard, VCU and Georgetown are all picked to finish top-three in their conferences. Very valuable wins for us, I think."