Minnesota will play for a title for the second straight season
The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team will play for a postseason championship for the second straight season when they face the Belmont Bruins for the WBIT title on Wednesday evening. For the second year in a row it will be a Big Ten vs Missouri Valley title tilt, as the Gophers fell to St. Louis in the WNIT Championship game last season. This year the Gophers will look to flip the script and give themselves a big boost hopefully into NCAA Tournament consideration next season.
Minnesota defeated Florida in the semifinals on Monday 66-52 behind Grace Grocholski’s 20 points. Tori McKinney and Amaya Battle shut down fellow Hopkins alum Liv McGill on the defensive end, and the Gophers took control in the second quarter and never trailed the rest of the way. Minnesota kept Florida to 52 points, a team that averages 74.6 points per game.
Belmont defeated Villanova 66-57 in the other semifinal to advance to Wednesday’s Championship game. The Bruins used a second half run to take control of the game. They outscored Villanova 33-19 across the last 17 minutes of play. Sophomore guard Jailyn Banks had a career afternoon, scoring a career-high 25 points on 9-for-11 shooting at the free-throw line, while senior forward Kendal Cheesman posted her team-best 11th double-double of the season with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Belmont finished in a tie for third place in the Missouri Valley conference at 15-5, one game behind conference winners Murray State and Missouri State. The Gophers allready defeated Missouri State in the second round of the WBIT this season. Belmont split their regular season series with the Bears with each team winning on their home court this season, and then won the rubber match in the MVC semifinals. Belmont played a pair of Big Ten teams in the non-conference this season losing by four to Ohio State and by ten to Michigan. They are 4-18 all-time against the Big Ten with their last victory against a Big Ten team a 83-61 triumph over Northwestern in Henderson, Nevada, to close out the 2023 Ball Dawgs Classic on Nov. 24, 2023.
This will be the second ever meeting between the Gophers and Bruins. The first came on December 14, 2016 with the Gophers picking up the 75-74 win at Williams Arena.
This will be Belmont’s first ever Championship game in a national tournament, and the first time in their program’s history they have ever played a game in April. This will be the Gophers second Championship game appearance after their WNIT loss last season.
Tip is scheduled for 5 PM Wednesday on ESPN2.