Starting the most difficult stretch of its season, the Gophers women's basketball team's offense ran out of gas Sunday at Williams Arena.
The final: No. 13 Michigan 77, Gophers 41.
This was the first of four consecutive games against nationally ranked teams in the top six of the Big Ten standings. The Gophers have Indiana (No. 6 before Monday's new rankings) on Wednesday, then games at Illinois (No. 22) and Ohio State (No. 2). Somehow, some way, the Gophers have to find a way to score.
"Offensively, we took some tough shots," coach Lindsay Whalen said. "We need to find ways to continue to get easier shots. We took a lot of contested shots. It's something we need to continue to watch and work on."
The 41 points mark the team's lowest scoring total since February 2010. The Gophers (9-12, 2-8 Big Ten) shot 30.5% (18-for-59), and Michigan turned their 21 turnovers turned into 21 points.
Minnesota was down eight after a quarter and down 11 at the half.
But things really got tough in the third quarter. The Gophers shot 3-for-15 with five turnovers while being outscored 27-7. Michigan was up 10 after Amaya Battle drove for a score with 7:32 left in the quarter. Over the next 3½ minutes, the Gophers went 0-for-5 with four turnovers while Michigan scored 17 straight points.
In their two games since shooting 50% in a victory at Penn State, the Gophers have averaged 48.5 points and shot 28.9%.