The Gophers women were a little shorthanded tonight, but it didn’t seem to matter at all as they got their 6th straight win at home against Rutgers and most importantly that was their 4th Big 10 conference win in a row. One of the Gopher’s top players and key contributors this year, Tori McKinney was out tonight with a concussion. They knew other players needed to step up, and they did in a big way tonight.
Battle and Hart Lead Gophers’ Charge in Rout of Rutgers
Amaya Battle continues to be a spark for the Gophers offense, tonight was her 5th straight game scoring in double figures. Her final box score was 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, and picked up her play with McKinney out. Sophie Hart had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds, she played great defense all night long. Sophomore Grace Grocholski had a great all-around game showing off her playmaking skills, finishing with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals. Freshman Mckenna Johnson had a career-high 15 points, and 5 rebounds off the bench, and came up huge tonight for the Gophers.
Destiny Adams a Bright Spot for Rutgers in Loss to Gophers
Adams continues to shine in her Senior year for Rutgers. She was the only bright spot tonight pouring in 28 points, and adding 12 rebounds. Increasing her PPG from 17.5 ESPN rankings had her as the 18th best prospect on the latest WNBA mock draft, tonight’s performance and her play going forward could boost that number even higher.
Minnesota Makes Noise: Gophers Appear in National Rankings
The Gophers have a few noteworthy stats amongst the best in College basketball, they also were in the AP Top 25 Others Receiving Votes category with 7 votes. Coach Dawn Plitzuweit has this team playing together, and also has a system where each person is buying into their role. They can shoot and defend. So far so good for these Gophers as they get to a critical part of their schedule. Here are some National ranks before their game against Rutgers.
No. 2 in fewest turnovers, averaging 9.4 per game (first in B1G)
No. 3 in scoring defense, allowing 50.8 points per game (first in B1G)
No. 4 in assist/turnover ratio with 1.79 (first in B1G)
Gophers’ Next Test: Maryland Terrapins
This is Minnesota’s best 17-game start (16-1) and the first time MN is 4-1 to start BIG play since 2014-15. Up next the Gophers will travel to Maryland next Tuesday, January 14th to play the #8 ranked Terrapins. Maryland is 14-1 overall with their only loss to #4 USC by 5 points. The Terrapins pose a big disadvantage at the guard position with great ball handling, and premiere scoring in Kaylene Smikle. Guards Shyanne Sellers and Bri McDaniel are good shooters and above-average perimeter defenders. Hopefully, the Gophers can get their top playmaker Tori McKinney back for this game, as she is still in concussion protocol.
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