To Maggie Czinano's knowledge, it had never, ever happened before.
Czinano is a junior for the Gophers women's basketball team, and she wasn't talking about her first career double-double in Thursday's 100-45 victory over Lindenwood at Williams Arena. She was talking about how her sister Monika was there, watching, while wearing maroon and gold.
"I've not seen that in five-plus years," Czinano said after scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds. "Even when I committed she was not wearing a Gophers sweatshirt. So it's really cool."
There's a reason for this. The Czinanos are from Watertown. Monika played her college career at Iowa, helping the Hawkeyes to the NCAA title game last spring. She surprised her family by coming home from Budapest — where she's playing pro ball — for the holidays.
And that meant she was with the family at Williams watching one of the better games Maggie has played.
In a one-sided win over a team the Gophers were expected to beat easily, Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit was able to give 12 players eight or more minutes of playing time. None of the starters played 18 minutes in a game the Gophers led by 19 after a quarter and by 40 at the half.
Gophers reserves scored 43 points, with Czinano leading the way. But there were others. Backup point guard Janay Sanders had seven points and five assists. Nia Holloway had nine points, five rebounds and a steal in 16-plus minutes.
The Gophers, playing their first game in eight days — they won't play again until they resume Big Ten Conference play at fourth-ranked Iowa Dec. 30 — finished the nonconference portion of their schedule at 11-1 overall (1-0 in conference play) with three victories of 50 or more points, for three of the top five most lopsided victories in program history.
