Box Score

 
MINNEAPOLIS – Freshman Rachel Banham scored a career-high 20 points and shared game-high honors with seven rebounds for Minnesota en route to the Gophers'  71-47 win over visiting NJIT Friday evening in non-conference women's basketball action at Williams Arena.
 
Friday's contest marked the first meeting between NJIT and Minnesota, which became the second women's basketball opponent from the powerful Big Ten Conference for the Highlanders since they began competing at the Division I level in 2006-07.  In 2009-10, Penn State was NJIT's first-ever women's basketball Big Ten opponent.
 
In addition to Banham's game-high 20 points, senior Kiara Buford filled up the box score with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block for the Gophers.  Junior forward Katie Loberg chipped in 10 points and shared a game-best seven rebounds with teammate Banham while adding two blocks.
 
The winners shot 29-65 (45 percent) from the field for the game, including 18-for-34 in the first half.

Minnesota dominated most of the specialty stats. Even though the disparity in turnovers was not great--15 for NJIT to 10 for Minnesota--the Gophers exacted a steep price from the Highlanders, converting the 15 NJIT turnovers into 25 points, while the Highlanders got nine points from Minnesota's 10 turnovers.

The Gophers dominated inside, with 46 points in the paint to 22 for NJIT, which also included a 23-11 advantage on second-chance points for the winners.
 
Junior guard Rayven Johnson paced NJIT with 11 points and five rebounds, while freshman guard Sarah Olson added 10 points.  Freshman Denisa Domiterova came off the bench for the Highlanders and posted eight points – six from behind the arc.
 
Sophomore forward Uju Nwankwo combined for eight points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and pulled down a team-high six rebounds, with a game-high three blocks for NJIT.
 
Minnesota (8-6) opened up the contest 6-0, but Nicole Maticka hit a jumper in the paint and Melanie Griffin sank two free throws with 14:53 remaining in the first half, for a 6-4 score in favor of the home team.
 
The Highlanders (5-6) pulled within one-point of the Gophers, 8-7, on a three-pointer by Maticka at the 14:37 mark.  A basket  nine seconds later by Minnesota's Leah Cotton sparked a 9-0 run for the home team, extending the Gopher lead to 10, 17-7. 
 
After a three-pointer by Domiterova at the 11:02 mark, the Gophers scored 14 unanswered points, extending a 17-10 lead to 31-10 with 5:33 left in the first half.  But the Highlanders scored the next seven points, pulling within 14 of the Gophers, with the first five points coming from Domiterova on a jumper in the paint and trey ball from behind the arc.
 
Minnesota closed out the final three minutes of the first half, 11-6,  led by Banham's five points, for a 42-23 halftime score.  Banham scored 14 of her 20 points in the first half while NJIT's Domiterova scored eight in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Gophers continued to shoot well from the field in the second half, pushing the lead up to 37, 62-25, on a Cotton jumper 10 minutes into the second period. 
 
The Highlanders, who continued to fight the high-level program, went on an 11-2 run, with seven points coming from Johnson and four from Nwankwo, for a 64-36 score, with less than 7:30 to go in the contest.

With the result long since settled, the persistent Highlanders closed the final 5:12 on an 11-3 run fueled by eight points from the freshman forward Olson
 
The Highlanders will break for Christmas and close out the 2011 calendar year at the Cyclone Challenge hosted by Iowa State.  NJIT will face Buffalo (4-8) on December 29 at 5pm (CT).
 
Buffalo is coming off a 69-65 overtime win at home vs. Oakland on December 22 and is paced by Brittney Henderson, who scores 19.2ppg, the only double-figure scorer on the team.