Minnesota moves to 13-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team got a big win to close out 2024 on Tuesday. After four straight losses to Wisconsin, Minnesota dominated the Badgers in the first quarter of their game in Madison taking a 23-4 lead after the opening ten minutes. The Badgers would claw back, but didn’t have enough in the tank as the Gophers hung on for a 59-50 win to move to 14-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play.
Minnesota dominated the opening stanza in Madison. They didn’t allow the Badgers to score from the field, only a quartet of free throws. The Gophers hit four threes in the quarter and went on a 13-0 run until a pair of Badger free throws ended in late in the quarter.
The second quarter saw the Badgers fins some offense, but the Gophers held serve and took a 36-19 lead into the break. Wisconsin would start clawing their way back in the third quarter, and especially the fourth, but could never get the lead below double digits until a final three pointer with 26 seconds remaining to complete the scoring.
Minnesota did a great job defensively in the opening half including shutting down Wisconsin star player Serah Williams. She committed a season high six turnovers and started the game shooting 1-10 before picking it up in the fourth quarter against a tired Minnesota defense.
Why were the Gophers tired? Because despite the large lead for most of the game, Gophers coach Dawn Plitzwueit played just seven players. Grace Grocholski played the entire game with Mallory Heyer sitting for just a minute. It doesn’t bode well for the Gophers depth in games later in the season when they will definitely need it.
Amaya Battle led the Gophers with 13 points. Minnesota had two others in double figures with Grocholski scoring 12 and Sophie Hart adding 11. The Gophers outrebounded Wisconsin 39-34, and tuned the ball over five less times.
As we said in a post earlier last week, the Gophers needed a good start against teams that were through to be near the bottom of the conference standings to start the year, and they have defeating Penn State and Wisconsin. The task gets a bit tougher on Sunday as Illinois comes to the Barn. But, it is a game the Gophers really need to win. The Illini just lost to Washington this week. That same Washington team lost to Montana who the Gophers defeated by 20. A win would go a long way towards helping the Gophers climb up the conference standings and inch closer and closer towards a potential NCAA Tournament berth.