Gophers women's basketball leads wire-to-wire in win over Northwestern

With 47 seconds left in Friday's women's basketball game at Williams Arena, after making two free throws, after scoring 19 points with 12 rebounds, Laura Bagwell Katalinich was subbed out by Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen.

She did high-fives all the way down the Gophers bench. Then, she turned around and did them again going the other way. Then she jumped off the elevated floor and was hugged by teammate Kayla Mershon.

It was a good day.

Bagwell Katalinich isn't the only reason the Gophers won their third Big Ten game in five tries and their second in three games this week, this one 74-68 over Northwestern.

But she was a big, big reason. Bagwell Katalinich had offseason surgery on her shooting wrist. That plus some bumps and bruises had limited her at times this season. But Friday, in her third consecutive start, she led the way.

"It's been frustrating at times," said Bagwell Katalinich, in her second season with the Gophers as a grad transfer from Cornell. "Because my body doesn't' always do what I want it to do anymore. I had surgery in the offseason. And I remember coach saying, 'I've been through it, and you're going to have a moment when the adversity is all worth it.' This was one of those days."

It was a day for experience. Bagwell Katalinich and Gadiva Hubbard — both of whom are second-year grad students who will leave the U with a combined four graduate degrees — each scored 19 points. Hubbard hit four threes in the first period, which ended with the Gophers up 18-8. Bagwell Katalinich had five points, two rebounds and a steal in an 11-0 Gophers run to start the second half, which put her team up 45-27.

Junior Sara Scalia (18 points) scored in double figures for the 16th game in a row, surpassing 1,000 points in her career in the process.

The Gophers (12-14, 5-9 Big Ten) did what they needed to do on offense — and on defense through three and a half quarters. Up 66-48 on Deja Winters' three-pointer with 4:33 left, the Gophers were outscored 20-8 the rest of the way. But Hubbard's seven fourth-quarter points and the Gophers making seven of eight free throws in the last quarter were enough to hold off the charge from the Wildcats (13-9, 5-6).

"We played with a lot of poise with one day of prep for a pretty unique team," Whalen said. "Overall, a big win after a really big stretch."

Nobody will look past Thursday's game with Rutgers. But the Gophers' stretch run of the regular season comes against the Scarlet Knights, at Nebraska, Illinois and at Penn State. Nebraska is 6-6 in the Big Ten. Rutgers is 0-12, Illinois 1-7, Penn State 3-10. The schedule provides a road to a much better seed in the conference tournament.

Minnesota started the stretch run well. The Gophers hit on 10 of 19 threes, with Hubbard (5-for-8) and Scalia (3-for-8) leading the way. Minnesota shot 44% overall.

Veronica Burton scored 27 points for Northwestern, 11 in the fourth quarter. But it was too late. The Wildcats shot 18-for-57 overall and 5-for-22 on threes while falling behind by 18 with four-plus minutes left. Their 8-for-10 finish only made the final score closer.

For Bagwell Katalinich, the former Holy Angels star, it felt good to be able to contribute.

"Laura is our energy-bringer," Hubbard said. "In games, or in practices. She's the one saying, 'Come on!' or clapping, making noise of some sort. It helps, and we feed off it."

It helps when she's scoring points and rebounding the ball, too. Bagwell Katalinich could have left after last season. Coming back turned out to be a good call.