Gophers women’s basketball wins on road again in WBIT, takes down Missouri State

Of course it’s easy to say now, but maybe having to go on the road for the first two games of the WBIT made what’s coming sweeter.

“It was fun to have a week, together, on the road,” Gophers center Annika Stewart said via phone. “To experience new arenas, make more memories. But we’re excited to get back home.’’

The Gophers women’s basketball team raced out of the gate early, and held on late, in a 78-71 victory over Missouri State on Sunday in Springfield, Mo. It seemed as if the Gophers couldn’t miss in the first 10 minutes, and they refused to buckle in the final moments.

So, after handing the Lady Bears their first home loss of the season and their second in two years, the No. 2-seeded Gophers (22-11) — who had to go on the road for the first two games of this tournament because of a scheduling conflict with the boys basketball state tournament — get one more game at Williams Arena.

“To have to be resilient, to do it on the road, it was good for this team,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “We defended well against Toledo [in a first-round win]. We were pretty efficient on offense today. Now we have to put the two together.”

The Gophers will play host to Gonzaga — which won at No. 1-seeded Colorado on Sunday — in a quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Thursday. The WBIT’s final four teams will play at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, with the semifinals scheduled for March 31.

“It got wild there late,” Gophers guard Grace Grocholski said. “But I’m glad we got out with the win. It was a fun game.”

BOXSCORE: Gophers 78, Missouri State 71

Though perhaps a bit tighter than anyone expected after the Gophers played a near-perfect 27-12 first quarter vs. third-seeded Missouri State (26-9). They still led by 15 at halftime but were outscored 44-36 in the second half and 20-14 in the fourth quarter.

But they never lost the lead.

Stewart and Grocholski each scored 18 points. They combined to hit 12 of 22 field-goal tries overall and shot 8-for-13 on three-pointers for the Gophers. Stewart’s four threes made were a season high. Grocholski scored 11 points in the third quarter. Stewart had five points in the fourth, including a three-pointer that put the Gophers up by nine with 2:22 left and two late free throws.

Amaya Battle added 15 points, five rebounds and five assists and had only one turnover. Mallory Heyer had eight points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, which had a 43-27 edge on the boards, a 13-5 advantage on second-chance points and a 12-8 edge from the free-throw line.

Together that was enough hold off a Missouri State team that had four players score 13 or more points, hit just as many field goals (28) as the Gophers and threatened to come all the way back when back-to-back threes by Kaemyn Bekemeier (18 points) and Kyrah Daniels (15 points) pulled the Lady Bears to within 73-70 with 29 seconds left.

“Our players had to show a measure of toughness,” Plitzuweit said. “That is not an easy place to play.”

Out of a timeout, the Lady Bears had to foul three times to get the Gophers in the bonus. Ultimately, Heyer did two things that helped seal the victory.

First, she made two free throws with 26 seconds left to make it a five-point game. Then, covering Daniels at the other end, she forced a contested three that Daniels missed. Alexsia Rose then made one of two free-throw tries with 17 seconds left, icing the game.

Moments later, the Gophers learned their tourney journey was coming back to Minnesota.

“I don’t think we left the Barn on a good note,” Stewart said of her team, which lost its final three home games in the regular season.

Stewart — and the Gophers — would like to change that tune.