Father and daughter face off on basketball court

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Senior guard Kelly Roysland scans the court during Sunday's game against the Crookston Golden Eagles.

Photo and home page image courtesy of Bill Stenberg, FosstonImages.com

Nov. 7, 2006

Minnesota senior Kelly Roysland scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Golden Gophers to an 86-47 victory over the University of Minnesota, Crookston, in exhibition action at Williams Arena on Sunday.

But the final outcome was only a part of the drama of the game. Kelly's father, Mike Roysland, is the first-year head coach of the Crookston team.

"It was fun seeing him on the sidelines and not in the stands behind our bench," said Kelly. "He said a few things to me on the court."

"I did catch myself almost clapping once," admitted the Golden Eagles head coach. "[It] was just a memorable experience. I think the strangest part was talking about her (Kelly) to my team in the huddles on how to guard her and so forth."

With six minutes left in the first half, Roysland swished a long three-pointer in front of her father's team bench. "Yeah, I remember that one," said Coach Roysland. "I said, 'Good shot.'"

Though the highlight of Minnesota's second exhibition game of the season was the daughter versus father battle, the Gophers' team captain shared the spotlight with her teammates on the court. Roysland and seven other Gophers scored within the first 10 minutes of the game--including two opening buckets by Leslie Knight--that helped Minnesota to tally the first 15 points of the game.

The Gophers held a 43-22 lead at halftime and maintained at least a 20-point margin throughout the second half.

The Gophers captured their second exhibition win of the season, yet Minnesota head coach Pam Borton knows the team has plenty of work ahead of them. "We played like a young team today," said Borton. "We had strong stretches and played well, then other times we lacked consistency. We did learn more about our team, which is why we play these exhibition games. And, it is much better learning these lessons from a win."

The Gophers open their regular season on Friday, Nov. 10, when they play host to Northern Iowa at 6 p.m. in Williams Arena.

Crookston's next game is on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

--University of Minnesota Athletics