Grace Grocholski arrived with the Gophers as a shooter and has turned into so much more

There are a few ways to gauge how much Grace Grocholski’s game has grown in her second season with the Gophers women’s basketball team.

Let’s start with two plays:

First, Feb. 13 at Ohio State. Down 71-57 midway though the fourth quarter, the Gophers ended regulation on a 17-3 run to force overtime. Down three with 18 seconds left, out of a timeout, the Gophers ran a play that freed Grocholski. She got the pass from Amaya Battle atop the key, hit the three that tied the score with eight seconds left, then blocked OSU’s shot as regulation expired.

Then, Wednesday at Purdue: With 8.4 seconds left in the first half of a tie game, Grocholski and Battle worked a play. As Kennedy Klick looked to inbound the ball in the offensive end, Battle ran for the corner. Grocholski faked inside, then came out and caught Klick’s pass at the top of the key. This time, though, no three-point shot. A Sophie Hart screen gave her an opening, so Grocholski drove down the lane and finished with her left hand.

The 5-10 Grocholski has started every game for coach Dawn Plitzuweit since she got here last season. Sixty-four games, 64 starts.

She walked in the door from North Prairie, Wis., as one of the team’s best three-point shooters. Plitzuweit said she’s as good a pure shooter as she’s coached. But now, as the Gophers try to finish off a résumé that will result in the program’s first NCAA tournament bid since the spring of 2018, Grocholski has become more.

“Her basketball IQ is just about as high as anyone’s,” Plitzuweit said. “Because she can do just about all of it for us. It’s her versatility, her understanding of the defense.”

Grocholski is coming off a career game in the victory over Purdue. She matched her career high with 27 points. She hit eight of 12 shots, three of five threes. She had six rebounds, and she led the team with five assists, all but one going to center Sophie Hart, who had a career night of her own.

“It definitely comes with experience,” said Grocholski, who is tied with Battle in team scoring (12.0), second behind Battle in assists (2.8) and third on the team in rebounding (4.8). “And just playing. I feel like I’ve grown since coming here.”

Last year, Plitzuweit said, Grocholski used to love to dribble behind a high screen, then take a three; 65% of her shots as a freshman were from behind the arc. But defenders caught up.

“If they guard that — and most teams know that’s what she likes to do — then you have nothing else. You’ve picked the ball up in a tough spot, and [the defenders] can deny. Now she’s better at making decisions and not being sped up by players that are defending her."

Grocholski has been a key part of the Gophers’ ability to break presses, often ending up with the ball in her hands.

She has learned to score both inside and out. She is taking about the same number of shots per game as last year, but now just over half are from three-point range and more are down low. Against Purdue, late, she became one of the team’s primary post players.

Grocholski is getting to the free-throw line more as a result.

She’s also developed a knack for getting the ball inside to Hart.

You can see Grocholski’s growth in real time. She has scored 43 points in her past two games, picked up 27 assists in her past seven and is growing into the role of go-to player.

“She has to be for us,” Plitzuweit said.

Asked last week what she was better at this year compared to last, Grocholski didn’t talk about her shot. “I’d say decision-making,” she said. “Trying to, you know, make the right play.”

7 p.m., Wednesday at Williams Arena

TV, radio: BTN+; 96.7-FM

This is the penultimate regular-season game for the Gophers (20-8, 8-8 Big Ten), and their final home game. That means it will be Senior Night for Maggie Czinano, Alexsia Rose, Annika Stewart and Jordan Brooks. The Gophers are coming off a victory at Purdue and now face a Huskies team that is, like they are, battling for an NCAA bid. Minnesota and Washington (16-12, 7-9) have near-identical Big Ten records.