2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team

The 2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Golden Gophers, led by fourth-year head coach Marlene Stollings, played their home games at Williams Arena as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 24–9, 11–5 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They defeated Iowa in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Women's Tournament before losing to Ohio State in the semifinals. They received at-large bid of the NCAA Women's Tournament as the No. 7 seed in the Spokane region. There they defeated Green Bay before losing to Oregon in the Second Round.

2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball
Lady Rebel Round-Up Champions
NCAA Women's Tournament, Second Round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
2017–18 record	24–9 (11–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Marlene Stollings (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Nikita Lowry Dawkins Marty McGillan Gail Striegler
Home arena	Williams Arena

2017–18 Big Ten women's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 10 Ohio State †	13	–	3		.813			28	–	7		.800
No. 16 Maryland	12	–	4		.750			26	–	8		.765
Iowa	11	–	5		.688			24	–	8		.750
Minnesota	11	–	5		.688			24	–	9		.727
Nebraska	11	–	5		.688			21	–	11		.656
Michigan	10	–	6		.625			23	–	10		.697
Indiana	9	–	7		.563			23	–	14		.622
Purdue	9	–	7		.563			20	–	14		.588
Rutgers	7	–	9		.438			20	–	12		.625
Michigan State	7	–	9		.438			19	–	14		.576
Penn State	6	–	10		.375			16	–	16		.500
Northwestern	4	–	12		.250			12	–	20		.375
Wisconsin	2	–	14		.125			9	–	21		.300
Illinois	0	–	16		.000			9	–	21		.300
† 2018 Big Ten Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

On April 9, 2018, head coach Marlene Stollings resigned from Minnesota to accept the head coaching job at Texas Tech. She finished with a four-year record of 82–47.[1] On April 12, the school hired the second all-time leading scorer for the Gophers, Lindsay Whalen, as head coach.[2] As part of her contract with the school, Whalen will continue to play for the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx while she is head coach.[3]

Roster

2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G/F 3 Destiny Pitts 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Detroit Country Day Detroit, MI F 5 Taiye Bello 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So Southfield-Lathrup Southfield, MI C 10 Jessie Edwards 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Western Australia Leeming, Australia C 14 Bryanna Fernstrom 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Sr Chisago Lakes Iowa State Center City, MN F 20 Kehinde Bello 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So Southfield-Lathrup Southfield, MI G 21 Jasmine Brunson 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) So Mary Louis Academy Queens, NY G 23 Kenisha Bell 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) RS Jr Kennedy HS Marquettte Minneapolis, MN F 25 Palma Kaposi 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Jr None Pécs, Hungary F 31 Irene Garrido Perez 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Jr Wyoming CC Granada, Spain G 33 Carlie Wagner 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr NRHEG HS New Richland, MN G 34 Gadiva Hubbard 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Princess Anne High School Virginia Beach, VA C 41 Annalese Lamke 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Jr Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau HS Milwaukee, WI G 43 Paloma Gonzalez 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Colegio Leones Vigo, Spain	Head coach Marlene Stollings (Ohio) Assistant coach(es) Nikita Lowry Dawkins (Ohio State) Marty McGillan (UNC-Wilmington) Gail Striegler (Central Arkansas) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: Nov 27, 2017

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 11, 2017* 5:00 pm		Lehigh	W 107–73	1–0	Williams Arena (2,642) Minneapolis, MN
Nov 13, 2017* 6:00 pm		at Rhode Island	W 82–60	2–0	Ryan Center (310) Kingston, RI
Nov 16, 2017* 7:00 pm		VCU	W 108–63	3–0	Williams Arena (2,147) Minneapolis, MN
Nov 19, 2017* 7:00 pm		Boston College	W 78–68	4–0	Williams Arena (2,454) Minneapolis, MN
Nov 22, 2017* 8:00 pm, BTN		Xavier	W 74–62	5–0	Williams Arena (2,000) Minneapolis, MN
Nov 25, 2017* 4:30 pm		vs. Wake Forest Lady Rebel Round-Up semifinals	W 93–81	6–0	Cox Pavilion (583) Paradise, NV
Nov 26, 2017* 4:30 pm		at UNLV Lady Rebel Round-Up championship	W 79–72	7–0	Cox Pavilion (575) Paradise, NV
Nov 29, 2017* 2:30 pm, ACCN Extra		at North Carolina ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge	L 83–88	7–1	Carmichael Arena (2,315) Chapel Hill, NC
Dec 3, 2017* 1:00 pm		Eastern Michigan	W 80–56	8–1	Williams Arena (2,694) Minneapolis, MN
Dec 7, 2017* 6:00 pm		at Georgetown	W 73–63	9–1	McDonough Gymnasium (307) Washington, D.C.
Dec 10, 2017* 2:30 pm		at San Diego	L 69–72	9–2	Jenny Craig Pavilion (511) San Diego, CA
Dec 13, 2017* 12:00 pm		Cal Poly	W 112–68	10–2	Williams Arena (4,126) Minneapolis, MN
Dec 22, 2017* 1:00 pm		UC Riverside	W 101–75	11–2	Williams Arena (2,106) Minneapolis, MN
Big Ten conference season
Dec 28, 2017 7:00 pm		at Northwestern	W 90–63	12–2 (1–0)	Beardsley Gym (703) Evanston, IL
Dec 31, 2017 2:00 pm		Nebraska	L 74–79	12–3 (1–1)	Williams Arena (3,284) Minneapolis, MN
Jan 4, 2018 6:00 pm		at No. 10 Ohio State	L 75–91	12–4 (1–2)	Value City Arena (4,519) Columbus, OH
Jan 7, 2018 3:00 pm, BTN		Michigan State	W 83–77	13–4 (2–2)	Williams Arena (3,422) Minneapolis, MN
Jan 10, 2018 6:00 pm		at Penn State	W 91–71	14–4 (3–2)	Bryce Jordan Center (2,326) University Park, PA
Jan 13, 2018 1:00 pm, BTN		at No. 21 Rutgers	L 70–80 ^OT	14–5 (3–3)	Louis Brown Athletic Center (2,168) Piscataway, NJ
Jan 18, 2018 7:00 pm		Wisconsin	W 90–65	15–5 (4–3)	Williams Arena (3,588) Minneapolis, MN
Jan 21, 2018 3:00 pm		No. 20 Iowa	W 77–72	16–5 (5–3)	Williams Arena (4,182) Minneapolis, MN
Jan 31, 2018 7:00 pm		at Wisconsin	W 71–61	17–5 (6–3)	Kohl Center (3,583) Madison, WI
Feb 4, 2018 2:00 pm		at Iowa	L 84–92	17–6 (6–4)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (6,581) Iowa City, IA
Feb 8, 2018 6:00 pm		at Purdue	W 78–74	18–6 (7–4)	Mackey Arena (5,827) West Lafayette, IN
Feb 11, 2018 3:00 pm, BTN		Penn State	W 101–68	19–6 (8–4)	Williams Arena (3,794) Minneapolis, MN
Feb 14, 2018 7:00 pm		No. 23 Michigan	W 93–87	20–6 (9–4)	Williams Arena (2,415) Minneapolis, MN
Feb 18, 2018 12:00 pm, BTN		No. 10 Maryland	W 93–74	21–6 (10–4)	Williams Arena (4,625) Minneapolis, MN
Feb 20, 2018 7:00 pm		Indiana	L 70–82	21–7 (10–5)	Williams Arena (3,477) Minneapolis, MN
Feb 25, 2018 2:00 pm		at Illinois	W 84–75	22–7 (11–5)	State Farm Center (1,638) Champaign, IL
Big Ten Women's Tournament
Mar 2, 2018 2:30 pm, RSN	(4)	vs. (5) Iowa Quarterfinals	W 90–89	23–7	Bankers Life Fieldhouse (5,274) Indianapolis, IN
Mar 3, 2018 5:00 pm, BTN	(4)	vs. (1) No. 13 Ohio State Semifinals	L 88–90	23–8	Bankers Life Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
NCAA Women's Tournament
Mar 16, 2018* 4:00 pm, ESPN2	(7 S)	vs. (10 S) No. 21 Green Bay First Round	W 89–77	24–8	Matthew Knight Arena  Eugene, OR
Mar 18, 2018* 9:30 pm, ESPN2	(7 S)	at (2 S) No. 6 Oregon Second Round	L 73–101	24–9	Matthew Knight Arena (7,576) Eugene, OR
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=Spokane Region. All times are in Central Time.

Source[4]

Rankings

Main article: 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Regular Season Polls

Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	N/A
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
(RV)		Received Votes

See also

2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

References

1. "Marlene Stollings leaving Gophers basketball for Texas Tech job". Star Tribune. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
2. "Lindsay Whalen coming home as U coach — and will do double duty with Lynx". Twin Cities. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
3. "Lindsay Whalen will do double duty as WNBA player/Univ. Minnesota coach". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
4. "2017–2018 Schedule". GOPHERSPORTS.COM. Retrieved 2017-11-27.