With their Big Ten opener set for Sunday, the Gophers made quick work of an overmatched nonconference opponent on Tuesday night, beating North Florida 90-44 at Williams Arena.
Grace Grocholski and Annika Stewart led six Gophers players in double-figure scoring with 15 points apiece, and Amaya Battle added 11 points and a game-high six steals as the Gophers improved to 10-0 ahead of their conference opener against Nebraska on Sunday afternoon in Lincoln. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.
This is the first time the Gophers have been 10-0 since 2018-19.
The Gophers put the Ospreys (2-6) away early, using a 15-0 run to take a 26-4 lead with just more than a minute to play in the first quarter. Sophie Hart’s layup, after a pass over North Florida’s zone defense from Alexia Rose, gave Minnesota a 52-18 lead at intermission.
Battle’s steal and layup at 7:34 of the fourth quarter put the Gophers up 74-34, and McKenna Johnson’s free throw with 22 seconds left supplied the final margin of victory.
Minnesota was 12-1 to start last season but they haven’t won their first 10 games since they won their first 12 in 2018-19, Lindsay Whalen’s first year as coach.
The Gophers have been doing it the past five games without one of their best players, junior guard Mara Braun, who injured her surgically repaired right foot during a shootaround. That foot forced her to miss the last three games of Minnesota’s WNIT run to the championship game last spring.
Braun, the Gophers’ leading scorer (13.6 points a game) before she was hurt, decided before Thanksgiving to have a second surgery on the foot and is out indefinitely.
Helena Rafnsdottir led North Florida with 14 points.
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