Minnesota Hosts NDSU in the Round of 16 Friday Night
The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team got a pair of postseason presents on Tuesday night as injured stars Mara Braun and Sophie Hart both returned to the Gophers lineup for their NIT battle with Pacific. Both showed up big as Hart led the Gophers in scoring with 14 points while Braun added 12 in the win. Minnesota advances to the WNIT “Super 16” where they will host North Dakota State at the Barn on Friday night.
Minnesota jumped out early on the Tigers and never trailed. Their ball movement was noticeably better than it has been in several games with the Gophers recording 20 assists on 30 made shots with Amaya Battle leading the way with six.
Minnesota continued to struggle from deep shooting just 6-22 from beyond the arc, but took advantage of 22 Pacific turnovers to score 25 points off them and 42 points in the paint. Minnesota had four players in double figures with Mallory Heyer adding 11 and Battle ten. The Gophers also got scoring from their bench as Nia Holloway, Janay Sanders and Maggie Cinzano each added 8-9 points on the night.
Minnesota now faces NDSU who defeated Montana 72-63 on Monday night. It will be a rematch of the third game of the season for the Gophers who easily defeated the Bison 75-53 at Williams Arena. Battle led the Gophers with 20 points in that game and nine assists while Braun added 13 and Heyer had a double-double with both 12 points and rebounds.
Tip time for Friday’s game is 7:00 and it will stream live on B1G+, and air on KFAN+ 96.7 FM. The winner will advance to face the winner of South Dakota and Wyoming Sunday or Monday with the location still TBD.