Tori McKinney scored a career-high 26 points, and Mallory Heyer added her second double-double in as many games as Minnesota beat Belmont, 75-63, to win the second Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday in Indianapolis.
The Gophers finished the season with five straight tournament victories to be the last team standing in the 32-team WBIT. They hoisted the program’s second postseason trophy, and first since the 2012 team won the 16-team Women’s Basketball Invitational under Pam Borton.
The Gophers (25-11) improved to a healthy 9-1 in postseason games under second-year coach Dawn Plitzuweit.
Minnesota’s Amaya Battle pulls up for a jumper in the first half of the Gophers’ WBIT championship game against Belmont on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Zach Bolinger / Gophers Athletics)
McKinney, a freshman guard from Minnetonka, was the hot hand early, scoring 19 first-half points as the Gophers took a 37-23 lead into intermission. Heyer, who had 13 points and 15 rebounds in the semifinal victory over Florida, finished with 18 points and 18 boards.
Amaya Battle added 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Minnesota. Banks scored 17 points for the Bruins.
Heyer’s layup with 1:56 left in regulation helped the Gophers hold off a late run by Belmont (26-13), giving the Gophers a 71-58 lead. The Bruins trailed by as many as 24 but made it interesting late when McKinney was on the bench with four fouls.
They finished the third quarter with a 5-0 run, then used a 12 run to pull within 63-53 on a layup by Jailyn Banks with 5:20 remaining. After trading baskets, Belmont cut its deficit to single digits, 67-58, on a 3-pointer by Kendal Cheesman with 3:17 remaining in regulation.
Grocholski missed a pair of free throws, and Banks hit a jumper to pull the Bruins to within 71-63. In the end, however, Minnesota made just enough free throws to put the game away, 5 for 8 in the final 1:20.
The Gophers blitzed the Bruins early, opening a 14-3 lead on a 3-pointer by Heyer with 2:10 left in the first quarter. That lead ballooned to 16 a couple of times before intermission, the last on another 3-pointer by Heyer.
Minnesota’s chances to put this one entirely away were undone by turnovers late in the second quarter. Before that, the Gophers were outsourcing Belmont off turnovers 14-0. But Minnesota coughed the ball up five times in the last 4 minutes of the first half, and the Bruins scored five points off of them.
Still, a 37-23 lead was auspicious as the Gophers started the second half, especially considering leading scorer Grace Grocholski didn’t have a point, 0 for 2 from the field, although she did have four assists and a steal. The Gophers, in fact, recorded 13 assists on 15 baskets before intermission.
Minnesota turned up the heat early in the third quarter, however, holding the Bruins to one field goal in the first 4:20 — a 3-pointer by Kendal Cheesman — to take a 50-26 lead on McKinney’s layup.
Minnesota freshman Tori McKinney celebrates a 3-pointer in the first half of the Gophers’ WBIT championship game against Belmont on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Zach Bolinger / Gophers Athletics)
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