Minnesota falls to Michigan St.
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, February 21, 2016
LANSING, Mich. — Aerial Powers scored a career-high 40 points and No. 25 Michigan State withstood Rachel Banham’s 52 points that made her the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer to take a 114-106 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.
Banham now has 2,921 points to pass Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante (2001-04), who 2,919. Sunday she was 14 of 28 from the field, 9 of 13 from three-point range and 15 of 16 on free throws in coming within eight points of her career high of 60 set against Northwestern in a 112-106 double-overtime win on Feb. 7. Carlie Wagner added 20 points.
The Gophers (18-9, 10-6) rallied from a 19-point first-quarter deficit to take a two-point lead early in the third quarter before the Spartans (20-7, 11-5) regained the lead for good with a 23-5 run, with 10 points from Powers, for an 80-64 advantage. The Gophers got within 96-90 with 3:36 remaining but no closer. MSU’s Tori Jankoska, who scored 24 points and had a career-high 15 assists, hit seven of eight free throws in the final 1:03.