McCarville Shines on Senior Day as Gophers Top Badgers
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Janel McCarville’s spirit was alive from the beginning as she got her teammates laughing with a pre-game wardrobe malfunction when her warmup pants fell to her ankles as she went in for a lay up. Christina Collison commented that McCarville had found a way to do something special on Senior Day.
McCarville’s day got even more special. The only senior player, she appeared on the court with her family prior to the tip off. When the game got underway, McCarville got an assist on Shannon Schonrock’s three-point basket that put Minnesota in front to stay 12 seconds into the game en route to an 84-53 win over Wisconsin. The player called “Shaq” then got a bucket of her own—taking a pass from Jamie Broback on a back-door cut—before missing a pair of baskets, the second an air ball on a baseline jumper.
From there, however, McCarville made her next 11 attempts from the field, going more than 25 minutes before missing another shot. McCarville finished the first half with 22 points (10-for 12 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line) to go with eight rebounds.
With Shannon Bolden limiting Wisconsin shooting ace Jolene Anderson to one field goal in seven attempts, the Gophers held the Badgers to a 31.3 percent shooting percentage in the first half. Yet Minnesota coach Pam Borton cited her team’s defense as “average at best” in the first half.
The Gophers kept up the defensive pressure on the Badgers in the second half, and the offense poured in another 42 points, matching its first-half total. McCarville connected on her first two field-goal attempts, the latter on a give-and-go when she took a return pass from Broback and put up a reverse lay up, before finally missing after making 11 straight shots. She finished with 11 second-half points, giving her a career-high of 33 before she was taken out of the game, generating a standing ovation from the crowd of 14,203, with 3:42 remaining.
McCarville said she approached this game the same as any other, despite the Senior Day festivities and it being against a home-state team (McCarville is from Stevens Point, Wisconsin) against whom she has always performed well. With 14 rebounds to go with her 33 points, McCarville recorded her 44th career double-double with five of those coming against the Badgers.
Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone knows McCarville well. Stone was the head coach at Drake University when McCarville’s choice of colleges came down to Minnesota and Drake. Stone mused about the possibilities had Shaq made a different choice.
McCarville’s points pushed her past Molly Tadich for fifth on the Gophers’ career scoring list, putting Shaq in the top five in points, rebounds, blocks, assists, and steals.
The Gophers raised their overall record to 20-6, the fourth year in a row that they have reached 20, 10-4 in the Big Ten.
The Gophers go on the road to finish their regular season with games at Indiana and Northwestern before heading into the Big Ten tournament and then, presumably, the NCAA tournament.