Gophers guard Rachel Banham is one of five finalists for the John R. Wooden Award. With that distinction, she also received an invitation to the awards show on April 8 in Los Angeles.
Breanna Stewart of Connecticut won the award a year ago and is also among the finalists as is Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell.
Etc.
• The Gophers baseball team will play St. Mary's of Winona at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Siebert Field in its second home game of the season. Minnesota is hitting a Big Ten-high .331, which ranks seventh nationally.
• Junior Courtney Crandall of Sioux Falls as named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's athlete of the week. She won the pole vault by clearing 13-5¼ at the War Hawk Classic in Abilene, Texas.
• The Gophers volleyball coaching staff will hold a free coaching clinic from 5-6:30 p.m. April 29 at the Sports Pavilion. It will follow a Gophers open practice starting at 2:30 p.m. at the Pavilion. The next day the Gophers will scrimmage North Dakota State at 3:30 p.m. An autograph session and a locker room tour will follow both the practice and scrimmage.
• The St. Paul Saints signed lefthanded reliever Cody Wheeler, who was 5-1 with 17 saves and a 2.79 ERA last season for Class A Frederick, an Orioles farm team. "Cody had a real good year last season," said Saints Manager George Tsamis. "We expect him to be a big part of our bullpen."
• The Gophers' Wenbo Chen was named co-Big Ten diving coach of the year along with Ohio State's Justin Sochor. Matt Barnard and Manny Pollard of the Gophers each collected one All-America laurel. Barnard won gold on the 3-meter springboard at the Big Ten Championships. Pollard earned silver on the platform and bronze on the 1-meter board.
• Allison Kruger resigned as Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball coach. She had a record of 29-135 over six seasons.
• Kevin Ulmer was named the head volleyball coach at Bemidji State. He has held the same position at Bethel College (Ind.) since 2012.
