Gopher Women Win, Get #6 Seed In Big Ten Tourney

MINNEAPOLIS - Junior Rachel Banham scored 27 points for the University of Minnesota women's basketball team en route to a 74-57 victory over Big Ten opponent Ohio State to close out the regular season. With the win, the Gophers wrapped up regular season play with a 19-11 overall record and an 8-8 Big Ten record heading into the Big Ten Tournament, while the Buckeyes fell to 15-17 overall and 5-11 in Big Ten play.

Banham's 27 points not only led the Gophers to victory over the Buckeyes, but also etched her name into the Big Ten and Minnesota record books.

The guard finished the regular-season as the Big Ten scoring champion with an average of 23.3 points per game in league contests. She becomes the first Gopher since Carol Ann Shudlick in 1993 to earn the distinction and only the third all-time.

Banham also broke the Minnesota single-season record for three-pointers when she drained her 75th and 76th three-pointers of the season in the first half. At the start of the game, Banham needed two threes to break the record. The mark was previously held by Katie Ohm, who had 74 during the 2008-09 season.

Redshirt freshman Amanda Zahui B. recorded her 14th double-double this season with 14 points and 18 rebounds to top off the afternoon and seal the win for the Gophers. The game marked the 21st game where she recorded 10 or more points and her 20th game with double-figure rebounds. Zahui B. ends the regular season with 83 blocks.

Zahui also made her way into the Big Ten record book on Sunday, as she concluded her first season in the conference as the Big Ten rebounding champion with an 11.5 rebounds per game average in league contests. She is the first Gopher to lead the Big Ten in rebounding since Janel McCarville in 2005.

-- With the win, Minnesota earned the No. 6 seed for the 2014 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament, the league office announced Sunday night. The Golden Gophers will face No. 11-seed Wisconsin in the opening round of the tournament Thursday at approximately 8:00 p.m.  at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. Minnesota finished the regular-season with an 8-8 record in Big Ten play, and posted a 19-11 overall record.

Should the Gophers win their opening-round contest against the Badgers, they would move on to face No. 3-seed Nebraska Friday night.   Minnesota's 8-8 conference record is its best mark in Big Ten play since 2008-09, which is also the last time it made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Penn State and Michigan State collected the top two seeds for the tournament after each earned shares of the Big Ten Championship. With its win over Michigan on Saturday, the Lady Lions claimed their third-straight Big Ten Championship, while the Spartans clinched a share of the crown with their victory over Indiana this evening.

The 2014 Big Ten Tournament will be played Thursday through Sunday, March 6-9, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.