Winners of seven of its last eight games, including a one-point win over then-No. 21 USC on Sunday, the Gopher women’s basketball team faced its toughest challenge yet Wednesday night.

Chalk it up as another learning experience.

Gophers guard Brylee Glenn battles with a UCLA defender during Minnesota’s loss to the third-ranked Bruins at Williams Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Brad Rempel / Gophers Athletics)

Minnesota got 16 points from Amaya Battle and 15 from Mara Braun but struggled with consistency in a 76-58 loss to No. 3 UCLA.

Offensively, Minnesota went more than seven minutes without scoring in the opening quarter and missed seven of its first nine third-quarter shots. The Gophers scored zero fast-break points and did not attempt a free throw until the fourth quarter.

On the bright side, the shooting percentage each quarter increased from 28.6% in the opening frame, peaking at 50% over the final 10 minutes.

“We played with a great deal of intensity. I thought our effort was outstanding, but our execution wasn’t as good as it needed to be,” said coach Dawn Plitzuweit, who half-heartedly joked about setting a record for shots rimming out. “… (But) having Amaya and Mara step up and carry more of the scoring load is something that was important for us to see.”

UCLA was the latest top conference opponent the Gophers can use to measure where they are at.

Eight Big 10 teams are ranked in this week’s AP Top 25 — six in the top 15 — and Minnesota, Washington, USC and Oregon received votes. The Gophers (12-5, 3-3 Big Ten) are 1-3 against ranked conference foes, but could easily be 3-1.

No. 7 Maryland scored 10 points in the final minute of double overtime to beat Minnesota 100-99 Dec. 7, and No. 9 Michigan outscored Minnesota by nine points in the fourth quarter of a 70-60 loss Jan. 5.

“We need to learn from every game, whether it’s a win or loss,” Braun said.

“You could play the best team in the conference one day or the worst team in the conference and you’re still going to have a game. Just understanding that you have to come with the same mindset every game, like nobody’s a pushover,” Battle said. “At the end of the season, when you’re in postseason play you already have that toughness, that consistency.”

Kiki Rice tied a career-high with 25 points to lead UCLA and 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, but the Bruins scored 11 points below their season average.

Winners of 10 straight, the Bruins shot 60% from the field and made 17 of 19 free throws, numbers the Gophers don’t want to see by an opponent. But they’ll take the 17 turnovers forced, including nine steals, that prevented this from being a blowout.

“The way they are connected, the toughness they play defense with is very impressive,” UCLA coach Cori Close.said. “They gave us everything we could handle.”

Up next for Minnesota is a trip to the Pacific Northwest to play Washington on Sunday and Oregon on Wednesday.

“You have put all the pieces together. Are we capable of doing that?” Plitzuweit asked. “We have to be in order to be one of those (top) teams. That’s another step we have to take.”

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal officer shot a person in the leg in Minneapolis after being attacked with a shovel during an arrest Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The person cautioned the information was still preliminary, and the investigation was in its early stages. The person could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

The shooting took place about 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) north of where an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head on Jan. 7 as she drove away.

MPR News spoke with a woman in the neighborhood where the incident occurred, at the corner of Lyndale Avenue North and 24th Avenue North in Minneapolis.

A large group of federal agents and Minneapolis Police wearing gas masks fired tear gas into a crowd gathered at a north Minneapolis intersection near where Wednesday’s shooting took place.

The city of Minneapolis said on the social media platform X that, “We are aware of reports of a shooting involving federal law enforcement in North Minneapolis. We are working to confirm additional details.”

Here is the full text of Gov. Tim Walz’s speech from Wednesday night.

My fellow Minnesotans,

What’s happening in Minnesota right now defies belief.

News reports simply don’t do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities.

Two to three thousand armed agents of the federal government have been deployed to Minnesota.

Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live.

They’re pulling over people indiscriminately, including U.S. citizens, and demanding to see their papers.

And at grocery stores, at bus stops, even at schools, they’re breaking windows, dragging pregnant women down the street, just plain grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans, kidnapping innocent people with no warning and no due process.

Let’s be very, very clear: This long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement.

Instead, it is a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.

Last week, that campaign claimed the life of Renee Nicole Good.

We’ve all watched the video.

We all have seen what happened.

And yet, instead of conducting an impartial investigation so we can hold accountable the officer responsible for Renee’s death, the Trump administration is devoting the full power of the federal government to finding an excuse to attack the victim and her family.

Just yesterday, six federal prosecutors – including the longtime career prosecutor leading the charge to investigate and eliminate fraud in our state’s programs – quit their jobs rather than go along with this assault on the United States Constitution.

But as bad as it’s been, Donald Trump intends for it to get worse.

This week, he went online to promise that, quote, “the day of retribution and reckoning is coming.”

That is a direct threat against the people of this state, who dared to vote against him three times, and who continue to stand up for freedom with courage and empathy and profound grace.

All across Minnesota, people are stepping up to help neighbors who are being unjustly, and unlawfully, targeted.

They’re distributing care packages and walking kids to school and raising their voices in peaceful protest even though doing so has made many of our fellow Minnesotans targets for violent retribution.

Folks, I know this is scary.

And I know it’s absurd that we all have to be defending law and order, justice, and humanity while also caring for our families and doing our jobs.

So, tonight, let me say, once again, to Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: End this occupation.

You’ve done enough.

Let me say four critical things to the people of Minnesota – four things I need you to hear as you watch the news and look out for your neighbors.

First: Donald Trump wants chaos.

He wants confusion.

And, yes, he wants more violence on our streets.

We cannot give him what he wants.

We can – we must – protest: loudly, urgently, but also peacefully.

Indeed, as hard as we will fight in the courts and at the ballot box, we cannot, and will not, let violence prevail.

You’re angry.

I’m angry.

Angry might not be strong enough of a word.

But we must remain peaceful.

Second: You are not powerless.

You are not helpless.

And you are not alone.

All across Minnesota, people are learning about opportunities not just to resist, but to help people who are in danger.

Thousands upon thousands of Minnesotans are going to be relying on mutual aid in the days and weeks to come, and they need our support.

Tonight, I want to share another way you can help: Witness.

Help us establish a record of exactly what’s happening in our communities.

You have an absolute right to peacefully film ICE agents as they conduct their activities.

So carry your phone with you at all times.

And if you see ICE in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record.

Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans – not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution.

That’s the third thing I want to tell you tonight: We will not have to live like this forever.

Accountability is coming, at the voting booth and in court.

We will reclaim our communities from Donald Trump.

We will re-establish a sense of safety for our neighbors.

We will bring an end to this moment of chaos and confusion.

We will find a way to move forward – together.

And we will not be alone.

Every day, we are working with business leaders, faith leaders, legal experts, and elected officials from all across the country.

They have seen what Donald Trump is trying to do to our state.

They know their states could be next.

And that brings me to the fourth thing I want to tell you tonight. Minnesota, I’m so proud of the way we’ve risen to meet this unbearable moment.

But I’m not surprised.

Because this – this is who we are.

Minnesotans believe in the rule of law.

And Minnesotans believe in the dignity of all people.

We’re a place where there’s room for everybody, no matter who you are or who you love or where you came from.

A place where we feed our kids, take care of our neighbors, and look out for those in the shadows of life.

We’re an island of decency in a country being driven towards cruelty.

We will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, of peace.

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And, tonight, I come before you simply to ask: Do not let anyone take that away from us.

Thank you.

Protect each other.

And God bless the people of Minnesota.

By AMY TAXIN

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A demonstrator was hit in the face with a projectile fired by a federal officer at close range during a Southern California protest, leaving him bloodied and with serious injuries, according to video and accounts from fellow protesters and family on Tuesday.

The Friday gathering outside the federal immigration building in the city of Santa Ana was in response to the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis by a federal agent, which has kicked off a wave of protests around the country.

Hundreds of people had marched in the streets in Santa Ana until a smaller group was left outside the federal building by evening, shouting expletives through megaphones about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, video showed. At one point, they burned what appeared to be an American flag on the steps of the building while shouting “Justice for Renee Good.”

The demonstrators came up onto the plaza, where a handful of agents stood in riot gear and held crowd-control gear. At one point, officials forcefully move a demonstrator back down onto the steps, and the group continues to chant as the agents appear to urge them to move back. Later, an orange cone can be seen rolling up onto the plaza, and officers begin firing munitions as they walk toward the crowd. It is not clear if the cones were thrown and by whom.

The injured demonstrator, identified as 21-year-old Kaden Rummler by his aunt, is seen on video shouting through a megaphone along with others outside the building, where several officers are stationed in riot gear. The officers approached the crowd then grabbed another demonstrator by the arm, identified in a federal criminal complaint as Katelyn Skye Seitz, pulling them onto the steps.

In response, Rummler and a few other demonstrators step forward shouting. One of the officers fires a crowd-control weapon, striking Rummler from several feet away. Rummler grabs his face and falls to the ground. An officer grabs Rummler by the shirt and drags him backward across the ground, the video shows. His face is bloody and other demonstrators shout “leave him alone.” Officers take Rummler into the federal building, and later video appears to show him face down on the ground being handcuffed.

In this image taken from a video provided by OC Hawk, a federal officer drags a demonstrator hit in the face with a projectile fired from close range by an officer during a protest in Santa Ana, Calif., Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (OC Hawk via AP)

Video of the incident was taken by OC Hawk, which films breaking news in Orange County.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, called the group violent rioters and said that two officers were injured. Two protesters were arrested and charged with assault on a federal officer and disorderly conduct, she said. She did not respond to questions about the nature of the officers’ injuries or the injury of the protester.

Protester says he lost sight in his left eye

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t answer questions about what type of projectiles were fired, but another protester said Tuesday they were pepper balls.

Rummler was blinded in his left eye, according to his aunt, Jeri Rees.

Rees said her nephew, a college student, was in the hospital for two days and underwent six hours of surgery to his left eye.

She said he was released from the hospital Tuesday while doctors work to determine what the fragments are made of to assess whether additional procedures are needed to remove them. Rees said he was hit in the left eye and suffered skull fractures.

“He’s completely blind” in that eye, she said. “There’s a hole in his eyeball.”

Rees said her nephew was given a citation for disorderly conduct.

In a statement read by another protester Tuesday, Rummler said he felt ringing and pressure around his skull and was dragged toward the building bleeding while struggling to breathe.

“I will never see through my left eye again, not even light,” he said in the statement. “I’m just glad I’m alive to tell my story.”

Christina Castillo, center, with Dare to Struggle, speaks during a news conference outside the Santa Ana Police Department in Santa Ana, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, following a recent protest outside a federal building in the city. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

It was not immediately possible to independently confirm details of the injuries. The fellow protesters, from the group Dare to Struggle, declined to say what hospital he had been taken to.

Seitz, one of the arrested protesters, said the group was there to “rightly protest the brutal execution of Renee Good, and the government agencies that uphold ICE’s ongoing brutality.” Seitz identified themselves at the news conference as Skye Jones.

A federal complaint alleges Seitz failed to leave the property despite warnings and threw an orange cone at officers, then resisted arrest and struck an officer on the shoulder and in the groin. Details weren’t immediately available about the second set of charges filed, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to questions about them.

Additional video shows demonstrators still gathered and shouting at agents after the confrontation breaks out. Some officers are standing at the door to the building, and another demonstrator approaches. Officers can be heard firing more rounds. The protester walks back toward the group covered in a white powder. He appears to have a cut on his face, and other demonstrators call for a medic.