North Dakota State takes down inconsistent Gophers 71-65, as Mara Braun sits with injury

Thursday's game at North Dakota State made two things pretty clear:

First, the Gophers women's basketball team has work to do before it is ready for the Big Ten Conference portion of the schedule.

Second, after having played just two games, it's clear how important Mara Braun is to the offense after the Bison (3-0) handed the Gophers (2-1) their first loss of the season, 71-65.

Braun, who was the conference freshman of the week after scoring 55 points in those two games — including a game-winning three-pointer Sunday against Lehigh — missed Thursday's game with a left foot injury that coach Lindsay Whalen called day-to-day.

Braun, who injured her foot in the Lehigh game, will be re-evaluated before Sunday's game against Presbyterian. She watched the game from the bench wearing a walking boot.

But this loss cannot be blamed all on Braun's left foot.

The Gophers shot just 39.7%, the second time in three games they've been below 40%. It happened against Lehigh, too, but Minnesota made up for it in that game by scoring 25 second-chance points.

Thursday it was the Bison outrebounding the Gophers, turning 15 offensive boards into 18 points.

Minnesota made just 25 of 63 shots and made two of 15 three-pointers. It got to the free throw line 22 times but missed nine. The Gophers totaled 11 assists on those 25 made shots.

"I told them that at halftime,'' Whalen said. "We have to move it. We have to cut, and cut with some purpose. The ball stuck at different times. We took some tough shots. It's tough. We had some looks that didn't go in. But we need to have a lot more ball movement.''

On the defensive end? After getting held to eight points on 3-for-14 shooting in the first quarter, the Bison went 25-for-49 the rest of the way, outscoring Minnesota in each of the final three quarters. The Bison made eight of their final 10 field goal attempts, making the Gophers pay for every overplay.

"They made good reads,'' Whalen said. "That's a veteran team, and I thought the times we did over-play, or got too high on different reads, they were able to cut back door.''

And this on a night when NDSU's leading scorer, Grand Rapids' Heaven Hamling, was held to eight points on 3-for-12 shooting. It was two other Minnesotans — Taylor Brown (Lakeville North) and Abby Schulte (Maple Grove) — who picked up the slack. Brown scored 16 points and Schulte had 14. Emily Behnke had 14.

Amaya Battle led the Gophers with 15 points and four assists. She had five rebounds. Maggie Czinano had a career-high 13 points with seven rebounds. Katie Borowicz scored 11, and Mallory Heyer 10.

Down eight with 4:44 left, the Gophers made a run. Three Gophers scored in a 7-0 run that brought them within a point on two free throws by Battle with 3:21 left. But at the other end, the Bison got yet another offensive rebound, and the possession ended with Hamling's three-pointer with 2:43 left that put North Dakota State back up five.

When the Gophers watch film of the game Friday, one thing will be clear: There needs to be more ball movement and more movement without the ball for the offense to find a rhythm.

"We have to make the easy play, the next pass,'' Whalen said. "We have to work on that.''

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.