Gophers women earn Big Ten bye with win at Penn St.; Kadi Sissoko, Sara Scalia score 32 each

STATE COLLEGE, PA. – Kadi Sissoko had 32 points and 14 rebounds, both career highs, and Sara Scalia also had 32 points as the Gophers women's basketball team defeated Penn State 94-83 on Sunday in the final regular-season game for both teams.

Laura Bagwell-Katalinich added 16 points — 14 in the first half — and 10 rebounds for the Gophers, who clinched the 10th seed in the Big Ten tournament and won't have to play in Indianapolis on the first day of the tournament.

Instead, the Gophers (14-16, 7-11 Big Ten) will play Northwestern at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The Wildcats lost 73-59 at Nebraska on Sunday to drop to the seventh seed.

Makenna Marisa scored 28 points for the Lady Lions, who fell to the 12th seed with the loss. Penn State (11-17, 5-13) could have gotten the 10th seed by winning their only meeting with the Gophers this season.

Sissoko, who played a big role prevented that from happening, talked about her mind-set in a postgame radio interview on 96.7-FM.

"I just got some confidence," she said. "Try to be real aggressive and follow the game plan. Everything worked out.

"I play really freely out there, do not overthink. Play the game I love."

Sissoko, a 6-2 redshirt junior forward from Paris, has played well lately, with 14 and 13 points in her past two games, but this was the first time she has had more than 20 points since scoring 25 against Nebraska on Dec. 6.

Of her 14 rebounds, seven came on the offensive end. She and Bagwell-Katalinich, who both had their second double-doubles of the season, were the keys to the Gophers outrebounding the Lady Lions 47-30. Minnesota had 22 offensive rebounds, leading to 22 second-chance points.

Scalia, a 5-10 guard from Stillwater, was 8-for-13 on three-pointers in scoring 30 more or more for the third time this season. She made nine threes and had 37 points against Ohio University on Dec. 15.

The Gophers led 38-28 at halftime and opened the third quarter with a 12-0 run to take their biggest lead at 50-28.

Sissoko made a three-point play to start the run, Scalia hit back-to-back threes and Gadiva Hubbard made a three, too.

Penn State stormed back with a 12-2 run of its own and kept the game close until Sissoko scored six straight points on two traditional three-point plays — a layup and a free throw — in the middle of the fourth to put Minnesota ahead 82-64.

The Lady Lions never got closer than 11 points after that.