Stewart leads Minnesota against Penn State after 20-point outing

Penn State Lady Lions (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (12-1, 0-1 Big Ten)

Minneapolis; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota takes on Penn State after Annika Stewart scored 20 points in Minnesota’s 96-57 win over the Prairie View A&M Panthers.

The Golden Gophers have gone 8-0 at home. Minnesota is 10-1 when it wins the turnover battle and averages 8.4 turnovers per game.

The Lady Lions are 0-1 against Big Ten opponents. Penn State is third in the Big Ten with 19.2 assists per game led by Alli Campbell averaging 4.9.

Minnesota’s average of 7.4 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.3 more made shots on average than the 7.1 per game Penn State gives up. Penn State averages 6.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.6 more made shots on average than the 4.7 per game Minnesota gives up.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Stewart is scoring 11.7 points per game and averaging 2.5 rebounds for the Golden Gophers.

Gracie Merkle is averaging 20.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks for the Lady Lions.

LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Gophers: 9-1, averaging 76.4 points, 33.3 rebounds, 16.1 assists, 8.3 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 44.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 51.1 points per game.

Lady Lions: 7-3, averaging 78.0 points, 35.3 rebounds, 18.6 assists, 10.7 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 48.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.3 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.