Staley's UVa Survives Giant-Killer Minnesota Gophers 2004

While the 1991 National Runners-up from Virginia were 10-point favorites in our Value Add Basketball Game against the 6th place team from the 2004 Big Ten, the Gophers appeared on their way to a big upset like they had late in the season to make a stunning Final four run.

Future WNBA players Lindsay Whalen and Janel McCarville combined for 36 points a game that year,  after winning only six of their last 14 games of the regular season and Big Ten tournament, Minnesota went to the tournament and stunned #8 K-State and UCLA. They then went on the road to stun #18 Boston College and then in the real shocker, #1 Duke in the Elite 8 before finally falling against #6 UConn in the Final 4. 

While the two future WNBA stars got their points, the Gophers took a 45-38 lead early in the second half due to an unlikely hero, as sharp-shooting point guard  Shannon Schonrock - who had two 4-point plays against all-time great Dawn Staley. 

We ranked Whalen as the 30th greatest player of all time, and Staley as the 20th best player of all time in this post.

The one weakness the Gophers seemed to have though was turnovers, and they had 18 as UVa rallied for the win. The Gophers last tie was 65-65 with 6 possessions to play when Whalen grabbed an offensive rebound and passed out to Shannon Bolden for a 3-pointer (off an offensive rebound one number is subtracted from the 20-sided die to increase the chances of making a shot by 5 percent.

Staley stayed pass first as a point guard in this game, as shooting guard Tammi Reiss had a game-high 24 points. However, the big news in Charlottesville that year (we actually lived their at the time as my wife was finishing her PhD at the time) the big recruiting news was not the all-time great Staley, but the twin towers Heather Burge and her twin Heidi at 6-foot-5.

Heather had a game-high 10 rebounds in this game, even though McCarville was normally a better rebounder. However, she was only a 55% free throw shooter (1-11 made on 20-sided die) so luckily it was Heidi who was fouled late and hit a key free throw and basket to help UVa escape with a 76-72 win.

Minnesota moved up slightly form 51st to a tie for 49th, while UVa stayed in 18th - but now tied for that spot with Minnesota.

 

Pos	Minnesota 2004	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Act Stats
1-PG	Shannon Schonrock	15	3	2	2	2	1	1	0	2	8.9 pts, 5'6
2-SG	Lindsay Whalen	15	1	5	2	2	5	3	0	4	20.6 pts, 5'8
3-SF	Shannon Bolden	9	1	2	2	2	5	1	0	2	6 pts, 5'11
4-PF	Kadidja Andersson	9	0	4	1	1	2	0	0	4	9 pts, 5'11
5-C	Janel McCarville	11	0	4	3	6	6	2	2	3	16.1 pts, 6'2
Pos	Visitor Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Act Stats
1-PG	Kelly Roysland	2	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	1	5.6 pts, 5'9
2-SG	Hannah Garry	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.5 pts, 5'5
3-SF	Jamie Broback	5	1	1	0	0	4	0	0	1	5.1 pts, 6'3
4-PF	Liz Podominick	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	4.1 pts, 6'2
5-C	Christina Collison	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	1.5 pts, 6'2
	18 Turnovers	72	6	22	10	15	27	7	2	20
Pos	Virginia 1991	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Act Stats
1-PG	Dawn Staley	4	0	2	0	0	2	1	1	3	14.6 pts, 5'6
2-SG	Tammi Reiss	24	0	10	4	4	2	2	0	2	15.4 pts, 5'6
3-SF	Tonya Cardoza	10	0	4	2	2	5	2	0	2	15.5 pts, 5'10
4-PF	Heidi Burge	11	0	4	3	4	4	0	0	1	8.9 pts, 6'5
5-C	Heather Burge	10	0	4	2	4	10	1	1	4	12.7 pts, 6'5
Pos	Home Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Act Stats
1-PG	Dena Evans	6	0	2	2	2	1	0	0	1	5 pts, 5'5
2-SG	Wendy Toussaint	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	1.9 pts, 5'11
3-SF	Tekshia Ward	3	0	1	1	2	3	0	1	3	5.2 pts, 6'1
4-PF	Melanee Wagener	4	0	1	2	2	2	0	0	1	5.6 pts, 6'3
5-C	Audra Smith	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	3.7 pts, 6'2
	13 Turnovers	76	0	30	16	20	31	6	3	19