It's tough to script the start of a four-game homestand any better for the Gophers women's basketball team.
"We were very poised, and we look like a veteran team in many areas," said coach Marlene Stollings. "And that's where you want to be at this point in time."
Five players reached double digits in scoring as the Gophers beat Penn State 101-68 during the annual Pink Game in front of 3,794 fans on Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena. Sophomore guard Gadiva Hubbard led the effort with 25 points, tying a season high. Freshman Destiny Pitts scored 17 with three three-pointers, Kenisha Bell had 15, and senior Carlie Wagner and sophomore Jasmine Brunson each added 11. It was a season scoring high for Brunson.
The Gophers (19-6, 8-4 Big Ten) also reached the triple-digit scoring mark for the fifth time this season but first in Big Ten play in exactly two years, since a 110-73 victory at Nebraska on Feb. 11, 2016. Junior Irene Garrido Perez entered the game late and hit a three-pointer that put them over the top.
Hubbard, coming in averaging 12.8 points per game, started red-hot with the team's first eight points. She sank two three-pointers, another bucket and added a block and defensive rebound all in less than two minutes early on.
"I think from warm-ups I knew that I would be able to shoot well," Hubbard said. "I started shooting at the beginning of the game, and it was going in. So I just kept going with it."
She was a perfect 4-for-4 shooting in the first quarter, including 2-for-2 from three-point range. She also hit back-to-back three-pointers late in the game and finished 5-for-5 from behind the arc. She made 10 of 13 shots overall from the field in 25 minutes.
As a team, the Gophers finished with 13 three-pointers in 23 attempts from six different players. Pitts made three.
