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Noga's Career Night Paces Gophers to Victory over Binghamton

 

Sophomore Sari Noga scored a career-high 16 points, and added six rebounds and two steals, to lead the University of Minnesota women’s basketball team to a 65-40 victory over Binghamton Saturday afternoon on the opening day of the Subway Classic at Williams Arena. With the win, the Gophers will face the winner of Nevada vs. North Dakota State in the championship game of the tournament Sunday night at 7 p.m.
 
The 25-point margin of victory was the largest for the Golden Gophers since Jan. 14, 2010, when they defeated Purdue, 74-47, at Williams Arena. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s defense held the visitors to only 40 points, its least amount of points allowed since 2009. On Nov. 24 of that year, the Gophers held North Dakota State to only 37 points in front of the home crowd.
 
Along with Noga, senior Kiara Buford also scored in double-figures for Minnesota. The guard’s 11 points against Binghamton extended her streak of double-digit scoring games to four, while she also tallied five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
The Maroon and Gold scored 40 of its 65 points in the paint and also recorded 20 second-chance points, thanks to a 17-10 advantage in offensive rebounds.
 
The Gophers took an early 1-0 lead on the Bearcats to open the contest, but the visitors put together an 11-4 run to pull ahead of Minnesota, 11-5. Minnesota was able to find its groove late in the opening stanza, however, scoring 22 points in the final nine minutes of the half to take a 35-22 lead into halftime.
 
Freshman Rachel Banham scored eight of her nine total points in the first half, while also grabbing seven of her team-high eight rebounds in the opening stanza.
 
Senior Jackie Voigt added seven rebounds and six points and fellow senior Brianna Mastey tallied seven points and two rebounds off of the bench for the Gophers to contribute to the Gophers’ 20 points off of the bench.
 
Minnesota only got stronger as the game wore on the in the second half, going up by 20 points on a basket by Mastey with 8:23 to play, before another field goal by the senior extended the lead to 23 for the Gophers with just under seven minutes remaining.
 
From there, the Maroon and Gold held onto its 20+ point advantage, capping it off with its biggest lead of the night on a pair of free throws by sophomore Shonte Clay with less than a minute to play.
Nevada and North Dakota State will play in the first round of the Subway Classic Saturday night at 8 p.m.


 

 

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