Mallory Heyer's double-double leads Gophers women's basketball over Presbyterian

Early in the season, the members of the Gophers women's basketball team's highly rated recruiting class have shined.

Already Mara Braun has scored 34 points in a game and hit a winning three-pointer. Amaya Battle has steadily scored, rebounded, dished.

Sunday it was Mallory Heyer's turn.

In a bounce-back 82-48 victory over Presbyterian on Sunday at Williams Arena — one led wire-to-wire by a Gophers team that scored the game's first 20 points — Heyer was efficient, energized.

Heyer had 19 points and 10 rebounds, her first career double-double. She both hit the boards and led the break, scoring 10 of her points in transition, getting assists from five teammates on five fast-break buckets.

"It was a great feeling," Heyer said. "I give credit to my teammates for looking for me, passing it to me in transition. Finding me when I ran the floor."

Heyer wasn't alone. Sophomore center Rose Micheaux scored 16 points with 11 rebounds, her third double-double in four games. Backup center Destinee Oberg had 10 rebounds to go with eight points. Together, that trio accounted for 43 points and 31 rebounds.

It was a nice change from Thursday's loss at North Dakota State, a game in which the Gophers shot below 40%, were outrebounded and managed just 11 assists.

Sunday, the Gophers (3-1) outrebounded Presbyterian 55-38. Presbyterian shot only 27.9% overall and saw Minnesota turn its 18 turnovers into 24 points. The Gophers had 21 assists on 34 made shots.

"I'm proud of the group," coach Lindsay Whalen said. "I thought they did what we worked on. We watched a lot of film [of the NDSU loss] on Friday. We wanted to have more ball movement."

Point guard Katie Borowicz had just three points, but had five assists. Battle had nine points and five assists. Braun, who missed Thursday's game because of a left foot injury, returned to action. She scored nine points in 19 minutes off the bench.

"We wanted to prove that even though we faced adversity and lost on the road, it didn't define us," Micheaux said. "We lost, but we showed we can come back from a loss and do what needs to be done."

Presbyterian (2-3) was playing for the second time in less than 24 hours after a 67-41 loss at St. Thomas on Saturday night, and it showed. Missing their first 15 shots, the Blue Hose were down 20-0 before the game was 6½ minutes old in a run during which the Gophers got five points from Maggie Czinano and Isabella Gradwell and four each from Micheaux and Heyer.

Heyer made nine of 12 shots, had four assists and a block and made one of the four Gophers three-pointers.

"I like to play fast and I like to run," Heyer said. "I think that helps me find my groove, just running the floor hard in transition."

Sunday she created her own opportunities. She ran hard on the break and was rewarded. She had five offensive rebounds. Two resulted in put-backs, another with an assist on Braun's three-pointer.

"I felt like she found some spots and a few different areas within the offense," Whalen said of Heyer. "And then she runs the floor so hard. I can't say enough about her. She comes to work every game, every practice."

There are still things to work on. Whalen wasn't happy with the Blue Hose's 15 offensive boards. The Gophers appeared to take their collective foot off the gas after the strong start.

"We gave up too many offensive rebounds," Heyer said. "But, overall, the offense was better. We knocked down shots. Our pressure was good."