Gophers women’s basketball team survives overtime in intense WBIT quarterfinal

A running joke when it comes to Amaya Battle is that the Gophers women’s basketball team guard is so in the moment she often can’t remember what she did in a game.

But Thursday? Unforgettable.

In a game the Gophers started hot and finished tough, Battle played the best game of her three-year career in an 82-77 overtime victory over Gonzaga in a WBIT quarterfinal at Williams Arena.

She scored a career-high 35 points, made 12 of 19 shots, both of the three-pointers she took and all nine of her free throws, including four in the final 88 seconds of OT. She also matched her career high with 10 assists, had five rebounds. Her two free throws, with 27 seconds left in overtime, essentially sealed the victory.

Remember?

Finally, yes.

“I was actually aware of what was going on in the game,” Battle joked, as Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit hugged her and laughed. (“She’s growing up,” the coach said.)

“I knew those two free throws were pretty critical,” Battle continued. “In the huddle I was like, ‘All right, these are gonna go in.’ And when I was at the free throw line, I just sang a song in my head.”

The Gophers (23-11) will play Florida in a semifinal game at 4 p.m. Monday in Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

In a game with incredible swings of momentum, the Gophers had a rather rare boxscore. Battle, Grace Grocholski (17 of her 20 points after halftime) and Tori McKinney (19) combined to score 74 of Minnesota’s 82 points. Others made important contributions. Center Sophie Hart was a plus-15. Niamaya Holloway didn’t score, but played some tough defense.

But the Gophers got all but one point from the five starters.

And it almost wasn’t enough against Gonzaga (24-11). Forward Yvonne Ejim had 27 on 12-for-18 shooting with 15 rebounds, nine on the offensive end. Plitzuweit tried everything to slow her. In the end, Battle took her down the stretch, forcing a miss at the end of regulation.

The whole team showed a toughness perhaps not seen at this level this season.

“An incredible amount of resilience,” said Plitzuweit, who will be in Pittsburgh on Friday to watch her daughter, Lexi, play for Grand Valley State in the Division II championship game. “They found a way to defend, to get stops. Play simple basketball.”

Still, Gonzaga led by eight with 5:03 left in regulation and by six when Ines Bettencourt (13 points) hit two free throws with 3:37 left. The rest of the game was a 21-10 Gophers run.

A minute later Battle fed McKinney for a three, and the Gophers got a stop. Then Battle got a kick-out from Hart and hit a three with 1:56 left, and the Gophers got a stop. Then Grocholski pulled up on the break and hit a three with 1:14 left and Minnesota, on a 9-0 run, had a three-point lead …

… Until Allie Turner’s fourth three of the game forced overtime.

Battle and Grocholski each had four points in the OT. The Gophers were down two early. Then McKinney scored, Mallory Heyer hit a free throw and Grocholski scored on the baseline and the Gophers were up three. With 1:28 left, the lead at one, Battle hit two free throws. With 27 seconds left she made two more to ice the game.

“We tried a lot of different things on her,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “We tried to use length, speed. We tried double-teaming her to make her get rid of the ball.”

None of it worked.

Grocholski said she didn’t remember Battle ever being so vocal, so often, in timeouts and huddles.

But she was calm on those final two free throws. Her routine is to clear her mind, let muscle memory take over, sing a song in her head (for the record: “The Spins” by Mac Miller). It was advice she got as a freshman.

“If you think too much, it can trip you out,” Battle said.

Now the Gophers are thinking about Florida. Battle? She’s thinking ahead but carrying memories with her.

“I’m going to take away how our team stuck together,” she said. “Even when we were down we stayed together.”