Amaya Battle’s importance grows along with her stats on the Gophers women’s basketball team

The most obvious signs of growth can be seen from behind the arc, where Amaya Battle has gone from iffy to incredible, most recently going 4-for-4 on three-pointers in the Gophers women’s basketball victory Sunday over Montana.

Or with the turnovers, which are dwindling.

But go a little deeper with the Gophers junior point guard, whose job has just gotten more difficult with the loss of Mara Braun to a foot injury.

Coach Dawn Plitzuweit has asked Battle to dramatically change what she does on defense and to make herself enough of a scoring threat that others will get opportunities.

Make threes.

As the Gophers have gone 7-0 this season — 2-0 since Braun was hurt — Battle is doing all that. And more.

“You think about leadership,” Plitzuweit said. “Some do it by example. Some are vocal. She’s becoming comfortable in both of those.”

If there is solace to be taken from the loss of Braun, it is that the Gophers have had to do this before. It happened down the stretch of the Big Ten season last year, and it didn’t go particularly well. But now the team is a little deeper, a little more experienced.

A little more dangerous with Battle playing at a higher level.

“We’ve had to go through that,” Battle said. “We know what to do when a player is down. Having that experience — and the maturity that came through that experience — we kind of know what do to. Having Tori helps.”

That would be freshman Tori McKinney, a quick 6-1 guard who has replaced Braun in the lineup. McKinney has hit seven of 13 shots and four of eight three-pointers and averaged 13.5 points in two starts.

But success with the Gophers this season will start at the point with Battle, who has started almost from the day she got here, who has gone to another level.

It started in the Gophers’ opening game of the Big Ten tournament last season. The Gophers had struggled to a 1-8 finish down the stretch of the conference schedule without Braun. But in a victory over Rutgers, Battle made 10 of 20 shots and her only three, got to the line 15 times and made 11, dished seven assists without a turnover.

From that point to now — the final seven games of last season, which ended in a berth in the WNIT final, and seven games into her third season — some key numbers have changed. For example: In her first 60 games, Battle was a 24% three-point shooter. In her past 14? It’s 51.7. She is 12-for-19 this season. Her rebounding and scoring have remained consistent, but her shooting percentage is up and her assists are down. In her first 60 games, she had a 1.2-1 turnover-to-assist ratio. Since? Nearly 1.8-1. This season it’s been closer to 2-1.

A switch flipped last season against Rutgers, and it has stayed on.

“One hundred percent,” Plitzuweit said. “It’s been fun, because now she understands at a higher level that you can impact the game in so many ways.”

Perhaps most obvious is her evolution as a shooter. The past two summers she has worked on rebuilding her shot, and it’s paying off.

“I’ve always wanted to improve my three-point shooting,” Battle said, “and this summer I took a lot of time. My teammates, trainers, family, coaches just poured into me and helped me.”

Under Plitzuweit, Battle has gone from a pass-first attitude to wanting to score and then involve teammates when opponents react.

On defense everything has changed. With Braun down and McKinney adept at guarding on-ball, Battle has been asked to do what Braun used to do, guarding off the ball, looking for tips and steals. She is averaging almost two steals per game.

The Gophers play Houston and Louisiana-Lafayette in New Orleans in the Big Easy Classic on Friday and Saturday. Then there is one more nonconference game before the Big Ten opener Dec. 8 at Nebraska. This time around, Battle feels she and her teammates will be ready to deal with the leap in competition without Braun better than last year.

“I think the whole WNIT run was good for us,” Battle said. “We all kind of pulled that switch. We all stepped up and did more.”

Big Easy Classic at the Alario Center in New Orleans

Game 1: Friday vs. Houston, 1:15 p.m.

Game 2: Saturday vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 11 a.m.

Broadcasts: 96.7-FM and YouTube

About Houston: The Cougars are 2-4, with three of the four losses by 12 or more points. That includes a 14-point loss to Georgia, a team picked to finish in the bottom three of the SEC in preseason polls. Houston is led by graduate guard Eylia Love (12.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game); she is playing for her third school. Sophomore guard Gigi Cooke averages 10.8 points.

About Louisiana-Lafayette: The Ragin’ Cajuns are 3-1 after a 61-46 victory Tuesday over New Orleans. The other victories came against Loyola (La.) and Nicholls. The lose, by two, was to Northern Illinois, picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the Mid-American Conference. The Cajuns are led by guard Jaylyn James (13.0 points).