Gophers bow out of Big Ten women's basketball tournament with 65-60 loss to Northwestern

INDIANAPOLIS – As the clock wound down on a 65-60 loss to Northwestern at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday, it hit Gadiva Hubbard. This could be, after six years, her last game.

And that, she admitted, really stunk.

"It is a frustration,'' she said. "Just, really, frustrating. There were chances."

The 10th-seeded Gophers bowed out of the Big Ten women's basketball tournament to the No. 7-seeded Wildcats in a game that was there for the taking. Up 56-55 after two free throws by Hubbard with 3 minutes, 36 seconds left, the Gophers (14-17) were outscored 10-4 down the stretch.

As has happened so often this season, the Gophers were in a game only to let it get away.

"We said that in the locker room," coach Lindsay Whalen said. "That's something, whether it's an offensive board, or today, getting into the gaps. It's a 40-minute game. That's why winning is so great, because it's so hard. That is one of the next steps that we have to take."

Both teams played good defense in the back-and-forth game. The Gophers forced Northwestern (17-11) into several difficult three-point attempts, where they went 3-for-23.

But Northwestern had a 12-5 edge on points off turnovers, a 16-6 edge in points at the free-throw line (the Gophers missed six of 12 attempts) and a 15-4 edge on second-chance points.

BOXSCORE: Northwestern 65, Gophers 60

Add that all up and it was too much to overcome on a night when Sara Scalia and Kadi Sissoko each scored 18 points — for Scalia, it was her 21st consecutive game in double figures.

For a team that got better as the season went on — the Gophers finished their regular season going 5-4 in conference play after a 2-7 start — one problem remained:

Finishing games.

"We played in a lot of close games this year," Scalia said. "Even with some top-ranked teams. Obviously that's something we can improve on."

The Gophers led by one point when the game started getting out of control. After Hubbard made her free throws, Northwestern's Veronica Burton (18 points) drove the lane but missed. But Courtney Shaw grabbed the offensive rebound, the ball got to Laya Hartman and she hit a three-pointer with 3:06 left.

On the ensuing possession, a Gophers turnover led to a three-point play by Lauryn Satterwhite (15 points) that put Northwestern up 61-56 with 2:20 to play. With the Gophers struggling to score, Burton made it a seven-point game with two free throws with 53 seconds left.

But then the Wildcats started missing from the foul line. Gophers guard Alexia Smith scored on a jumper with 41 seconds left. Then, with 28 seconds left, Scalia drove for a score, bringing the Gophers within 63-60. After Hartman missed two free throws, the Gophers had the ball out of a timeout with 21 seconds left. The Gophers got two chances at a tying three-pointer, but Sissoko missed and Scalia had her shot blocked.

"It usually comes down to a handful of possessions in a game," Whalen said. "We didn't make enough."

And that meant a loss for the Gophers and a date Friday for Northwestern with Iowa. It also meant that five seniors or grad students were leaving the Big Ten tournament for the last time.

And that was frustrating.

"At first it really didn't hit me," Hubbard said. "And then it did."