A solid regular season from Minnesota women’s basketball came to a close on Saturday with a 73-58 loss to No. 23 Michigan State at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich.
Now, the Gophers have a conference tournament to prove to NCAA tournament selectors that they are worthy of the program’s first invitation to the Big Dance since 2018.
Grace Grocholski finished with a game-high 23 points, added six rebounds and four steals, but as they have against ranked clubs all season, the Gophers would occasionally gain the upper hand before ultimately falling apart late.
This time, the Gophers couldn’t contain the Spartans on the offensive glass and were careless with the basketball, outrebounded on that end 14-8 and were outscored 14-8 on second-chance points. They also committed 18 turnovers, another rough game on that end marking a 1-4 end to the regular season.
“We were kicking out to open shooters on the perimeter, then missing 3-pointers, or over-driving into the paint and making bad passes that resulted in turnovers,” coach Dawn Pitzuweit said during a short postgame interview with KFAN-FM.
The Gophers were 3-14 from 3-point range, two from Grocholski and one from Tori McKinney, who finished with 17 points.
Minnesota (20-10 overall, 8-10 Big Ten) is now 0-7 against teams that were ranked in the Top 25 when they played, and 0-7 in so-called Q1 games, an important NCAA tournament qualifier that emphasizes the RPI and rank of an opponent, and the site at which it is played.
Last year, the Gophers advanced to the WNIT championship game, losing there to St. Louis.
The Gophers finished 13th in the Big Ten, earning one of the league’s 15 conference tournament spots in Indianapolis. They will likely start with a 2:30 p.m. tip against the No. 12 seed, probably Washington (17-12, 8-9), which whizzed past them last Wednesday at Williams Arena, 72-62.
Grace VanSlooten finished with a team-high 15 points and eight rebounds, six on the offensive glass, and 13 apiece by Julia Ayrault and Ines Sotelo for the Spartans (21-8, 11-7).
The Gophers took a 50-45 lead on Grocholski’s 3-pointer
Despite committing six third-quarter turnovers, the Gophers hung in there on the strength of their offense. They shot 60 percent from the field in the period, and were 8 for 8 from the line — the last two by Grocholski and pulling Minnesota to within a single point at 46-45.
A driving layup and 3-pointer by Grocholski gave the Gophers a 52-48 lead early in the fourth quarter but it unraveled from there — largely because of turnovers, four during a 17-4 Spartans run that made it 63-54 with 3:51 remaining.
The Gophers missed five of their first six shots from the field and committed four turnovers in the first 4 minutes of the game. Both teams, in fact, traded turnovers (seven total) until Ines Sotelo made a 3-pointer at 7:05.
Battle gave the Gophers their first lead, 12-11, by completing a three-point play, and Stewart’s jump shot capped a 9-0 lead that built the score to 14-11. The Spartans, however, made it 14-13 when Mallory Heyer lost a defensive rebound and Sotelo hit a layup as time expired on the quarter.
The Spartans scored the first three baskets of the second period, including a 3-pointer by Emma Shumate that gave them a 20-14 lead. But Minnesota kept playing defense — despite allowing seven offensive rebounds — and hung in there because of it.
Battle’s jumper with 4:09 left was the last field goal either team scored the rest of the half — Sophie Hart added one free throw — and the Spartans didn’t score at all for the last 4:56. Minnesota trailed 25-24 at intermission.
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