Gophers women’s basketball team turns away Toledo in WBIT’s first round

For their WBIT experience to continue, the Gophers women’s basketball team will have to be more efficient around the rim and hit more shots from behind the arc.

But Thursday night in Toledo, the Gophers won 65-53 in a first-round game because of one big thing: defense.

Toledo (24-9) gave the ball away 19 times. And the Gophers took advantage with a 25-7 edge on points off turnovers while holding the Rockets under 37% shooting.

As a result the Gophers (21-11), who ended a three-game losing streak, move into a second-round game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Missouri State after handing Toledo only its second home loss of the season.

“I’m going to categorize this just as a win,” junior guard Amaya Battle said in a phone interview.

Battle scored a game-high 18 points. Sophomore guard Grace Grocholski had 15 — she hit the Gophers’ only two three-pointers — and senior center Sophie Hart had 14 points and eight rebounds.

“At the end of the day we got the win,” Battle said. “Now we have to win four more. That’s how I look at it.”

Normally the Gophers, a No. 2 seed, would have played host on Thursday and would again Sunday. But a scheduling conflict with the boys basketball state tournament means Minnesota will play on the road again. This time against the No. 3 seed Lady Bears (26-8), who are 15-0 at home this season after a 107-76 first-round win against Oral Roberts. Missouri State has won 18 consecutive home games and is 29-1 at home since the start of last season.

The Gophers’ win would have been a bit more one-sided had their shooting not gone cold over the middle of the game. They shot 10-for-34 overall and missed all 10 three-point attempts in the second and third quarters. To be clear: Minnesota never trailed. A strong first quarter had the Gophers up 21-10 entering the second.

But it was defense that kept the Gophers ahead — their lead shrank to 32-25 at the half and 45-38 entering the fourth — until the offense returned in the final 10 minutes.

Battle said the Gophers were getting good shots but not making them. Coach Dawn Plitzuweit agreed.

And that was her message to the team during a timeout with 6½ minutes left, after the Rockets had used a 7-0 run to trim an 11-point Gophers lead to four.

“It was, ‘Now is the time,’ ” Plitzuweit said. “We’re getting shots, now is the time to capitalize. It wasn’t anything tactical. It was just time for us to prove we have the type of energy and confidence to make things happen.”

Her team listened.

Sophomore forward Nia Holloway scored, but the Rockets answered. Then Holloway scored again, in the paint, on a hook shot.

Those were the first two of 11 consecutive Gophers points:

• The Gophers got a stop and Battle scored.

• Moments later, after a Hart steal, Battle hit Grocholski for a three.

• After forcing another Toledo turnover, Tori McKinney fed Hart for a layup. She was fouled but missed the free throw. Holloway got the rebound and put it back, putting the Gophers up 62-47 with 2:22 left.

“She came in and she was hooping,” Battle said of Holloway, who scored six points on 3-for-3 shooting with three rebounds and a block in eight minutes of playing time. “She hit that first basket and I was like, ‘All right, this is going to go well for us.’ And she just kept cooking.”

Khera Goss (11) and Kendall Carruthers (10) scored in double figures for Toledo.

The Gophers had more than two weeks to prepare for the game, and they come out playing defense from the start. But for their WBIT run to continue they’ll have to hit more shots and rebound better; the smaller Rockets outrebounded the Gophers 40-33, outscoring Minnesota on second-chance points.

The Gophers were scheduled to travel to Springfield, Mo., on Friday morning, which doesn’t give them much time to prepare.

“We just have to stick shots,” Battle said. “And keep playing good defense. Just do a better job of finishing plays.”