There’s a basketball adage that says a shooter has got to shoot.
Amaya Battle has been doing that all season for the Minnesota women’s basketball team. She’s just making more attempts as of late.
Battle scored 18 points, nearly equaled her season total coming in with three 3-pointers, and Minnesota scored 32 of the game’s final 39 points to dominate Wisconsin 88-53 Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena.
The 35-point win ties the largest margin for Minnesota in the series, also doing so on March 10, 1993.
Tori McKinney bounced back offensively, tying a season high with 20 points and had her second straight strong rebounding performance with seven to go with three steals. She had just four points, but seven rebounds in Wednesday’s win at Oregon, her first game after missing two in the concussion protocol.
“Just the spark she brings up both ends of the court, especially defensively. I mean, she really frustrates other teams. And she can beat almost anybody off the dribble,” Grace Grocholski said of McKinney.
“She’s a motor, so we can always rely on her to get something whether that’s a bucket, that’s a stop, a steal, whatever. She’s always a constant force for our team that we can always rely on,” Battle added.
Grocholski also scored 18 points for the Gophers (14-6, 5-4 Big Ten), including seven in a 12-0 run for a 22-point Minnesota lead early in the fourth quarter. The Gophers finished the game on an 18-2 run.
Those surges further electrified the season-high 5,749 fans in attendance, including 77 program alumni.
“The Barn, when it’s packed, it gets really loud. I remember this from high school. Because they’ll have state tournament games here, and whenever there’s a ton of fans it gets super loud,” said Battle, who played at perennial power Hopkins.
“That was just an awful lot of fun. And I recognize it’s not all that warm outside. So to leave home, when the game is being televised, is something that we really appreciate,” coach Dawn Plitzuweit said.
Battle just missed topping 50% from the field for the fourth straight game — she was 5 for 11 — after making 13 of 41 shots in the first four conference games.
“I try to just come into the game with a clear mindset and just trying to go out there and play, do whatever my team needs me to do. It just has started to click a little bit. And then obviously just staying in, keeping reps in the gym, so I think that’s just starting to show, too,” she said.
Her performance included a trio of 3-pointers after entering 4 for 24 for the season, including nine straight games without a make.
When did you become a 3-point shooter?
“Today, I guess,” she said smiling. “Today was the day.”
Destiny Howell led Wisconsin (13-8, 5-5) with 16 points. Kyrah Daniels had 13, and Ronnie Porter, a Como Park alum, finished with nine.
Minnesota next plays Wednesday at Penn State, a team that is 0-10 in conference play, and is home to Purdue next Sunday.
Minnesota’s Grace Grocholski, left, plots her next move while being defended by Wisconsin’s Destriny Howell (1) during the first half of Sunday’s Big Ten game at Williams Arena (Courtesy of Gopher Athletics)
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