The nickname started back in the summer of 2022 for Mara Braun and Amaya Battle. They were part of a homegrown recruiting class that came to play women’s basketball for Minnesota. Competitors in high school, they became best friends, roommates, teammates.
And their term: Twinums.
Which brings us to Friday’s 74-52 victory over Vermont at Williams Arena, a game in which the Gophers started slowly, finished on a roll. It was, as Braun pointed out afterward, “a good Twinum game.’’
Yes it was.
The members of the Gophers’ starting backcourt, Battle and Braun, now juniors, each scored 21 points. Each made eight of 14 shots. Battle, whose three-point shooting continues to improve, made three of five, Braun three of six. They combined for nine assists and two turnovers.
Oh, and Braun had a career-high eight steals.
Together they took a Gophers team that was down nine with six-plus minutes left in the first half and pushed it to a 17-point lead entering the fourth.
This was a step up in competition from Central Connecticut, the team Minnesota beat in the opener Monday. Vermont (1-1) reached the WNIT semifinals last season and opened this season with a one-sided win over Missouri, an SEC team. Both their defense and their deliberate offense stymied the Gophers early.