Washington knocks out Gophers in Big Ten women’s basketball tournament

INDIANAPOLIS – The Gophers women’s basketball season is not over.

They will play again, in a postseason tournament. But, after a first-round exit in the Big Ten Conference tournament Wednesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Gophers will have to wait more than a week to find out where that will be.

The 13th-seeded Gophers (20-11) lost 79-65 to the 12th-seeded Huskies, the same team that beat them 72-62 at Williams Arena a week ago.

And for the same reason: Washington (19-12) won its fifth consecutive game thanks to rather stunning offensive efficiency.

“Washington may be the hottest team in the country at this point in time,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “They’re firing on all cylinders right now. We had a hard time disrupting them.”

Four of five Huskies starters scored in double figures. Elle Ladine – who scored 26 vs. the Gophers a week ago – had 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Dalayah Daniels and Sayvia Sellers each had 15. The Huskies shot 54.5% overall, 63% while scoring 47 second-half points.

They made 10 of 24 threes. The combination of multiple threats, great ball movement and efficient screens made them tough to stop.

“Washington is a great offensive team,” said junior forward Mallory Heyer, who scored 11 points for the Gophers. “And they were really hot tonight.”

Sophomore guard Grace Grocholski scored 21 points with seven rebounds and five assists. Freshman guard Tori McKinney had 10.

“The thing that makes them tough to guard is that all of their matchups are hard,” Grocholski said. “They swing the ball around, and all of them can shoot and every single one of them can drive.”

The game followed an eerily similar pattern to last week’s 10-point loss to Washington, even though the Gophers appeared to have the momentum at halftime.

Washington led 23-14 and seemed in control with 8½ minutes left in the second quarter. What followed was Minnesota’s best six-plus minutes of the game, a 14-4 run. Heyer scored the first four, on a drive and a put-back. Grocholski scored the final eight, with a drive and consecutive threes, the second putting Minnesota up 28-27 with 2:10 left in the half.

But from that point into the third quarter, Washington responded with a 13-4 run that put them in the lead for good, turning the Huskies’ 32-30 halftime lead to eight.

“We didn’t come out [in the second half] with the execution we needed,” Plitzuweit said. “It wasn’t from a lack of wanting to do the right things, or to get the ball where we want to get it, or get stops. But sometimes when you want something so bad, you kind of force things.”

At times it looked like the Gophers got out of rhythm on offense in an attempt to keep up with the hot-shooting Huskies. Minnesota had the edge in points off turnovers (21-10) and on second-chance points (15-4), but shot only 39.4%. The Gophers got to the rim more often than a week ago, but didn’t finish there well enough.

“On the offensive end, we just got a little sped up,” Heyer said. “We were trying to kind of match them. I think we just needed to slow down a bit.”

Now the Gophers, 2-8 in their past 10 games, have to wait until March 16 to see whether or not their NCAA bubble burst. After the game Plitzuweit noted the historical depth of the 18-team Big Ten, saying she hoped 13 teams from the conference would make the 68-team NCAA field.

If not, the Gophers would likely head to the recently formed Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, an NCAA-funded 32-team contest in which the first three rounds are played in home arenas and its final four are played in Indianapolis at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. That tournament debuted last year.

“We do have a while until Selection Sunday to see what tournament we’re going to make,” Heyer said. “But I think that’s just a great opportunity for us to get back in the gym and work on the little things. Scoring around the rim, passing. Things that will make us better going into tournament time.”