Ellendale’s Wagner Leads Gophers to Season Opener Win

Minneapolis, MN (Gophersports.com) - Minnesota opened its 2016-17 season with a 103-87 win against Harvard.

Carlie Wagner scored 27 points to lead the Golden Gophers, and five other players reached double figures for the home team at Williams Arena.

Freshman Gadiva Hubbard scored 16 points off the bench and added eight assists and five steals. Classmate Jasmine Brunson started and scored 15 points. Transfer Whitney Tinjum posted 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, in her Minnesota debut. Freshman Taiye Bello recorded the team's first double-double since Jan. 23 last season, tallying 10 points and 12 rebounds in 20 minutes. Allina Starr also reached double digits with 11 points, and added seven rebounds and six assists

Minnesota turned in its highest-scoring first half since putting up 57 points at Illinois on Jan. 7, 2016. The Gophers led 55-47 at halftime. By the end of the game, they had tallied their seventh 100-point performance under head coach Marlene Stollings.

The Gophers scored 33 points off turnovers, and tallied 14 steals. That number tied last year's season high for steals.

Carlie Wagner moved into 18th place on Minnesota's all-time career scoring list. She has 1,031 points and passed Elsie Ohm (1,011), Jamie Broback (1,019), Kadidja Anderson (1,029) and Cara Pearson (1,030) Saturday.