Gophers women end season with loss to Penn State as mistakes again drag down team

It was all there for the Gophers women's basketball team, in four rollercoaster quarters on the Target Center floor Wednesday afternoon. A CliffsNotes version of the Gophers' season on display in a 72-67 loss to Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

Another loss, this one finishing the Gophers' season.

"I will remember how it ended,'' said point guard Amaya Battle, who spent the season running the gantlet of playing the point in the Big Ten as a freshman. Wednesday? She scored 16 points with five rebounds and five assists. She was a big part of a 20-5 fourth-quarter run. But she also had seven turnovers, struggling early as the Gophers started the game 1-for-14 with five turnovers while falling behind by 18.

"I heard them screaming on the way to the locker room,'' Battle said. "Which is fine. I would have been screaming, too, if I won. But you want to remember those things so it doesn't happen again.''

The Gophers, who finished 11-19 overall, 4-15 in the Big Ten, have a team filled with youth that needs to grow a bit by next season.

Mara Braun, in her first conference tournament game, was very good, at times willing the team. She scored 25 points, and hit a two- and three-pointer and had an assist in the Gophers' late rally. Isabelle Gradwell and Micheaux each scored nine.

The 13th-seeded Lions (14-15, 5-14) had lost their previous six games by an average of 20.7 points. But they got 20 points from Makenna Marisa and 16 from Shay Ciezki before she left with an injured ankle in the second half.

"I'm so proud of the group for hanging in and believing,'' Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen said. "That it came down to a late-game situation after the start. I'm proud of the way we battled. We've done that all year.''

But the mistakes have been a constant, too. Battle said she was surprised at how effective the Lions' press was early, which not only caused turnovers but allowed Penn State to limit Micheaux's effectiveness.

For most of the game, it appeared that 18-point hole would be too much to come back from. But with Ciezki hurt and the Lions facing foul trouble, the Gophers stormed back. Gradwell had six points, Braun and Battle five each and Micheaux four as Minnesota rallied for the tie.

Out of a timeout, Marisa scored, was fouled and hit the free throw, starting a 6-1 Penn State finish to the game.

After the game Micheaux, whose scoring jumped by almost 10 points as a sophomore, talked about the need to go back to fundamentals and rebuild the team. Whalen said the tournament experience will help, but that the team will have to work in the offseason on limiting turnovers.

Braun pledged the team will do just that, with the taste of Wednesday's loss giving a push.

"Coach was talking about this before,'' Braun said. "But every workout now in the offseason, just remember this feeling. Remember the hurt, and come back hungry next year. … I think the way we fought back, that just describes this team. We'll play with a chip on our shoulder next year.''