Gophers women’s basketball team rolls against Belmont for WBIT title

As a TV reporter was trying to interview her on the floor at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, after she had used her biggest stage ever to have her biggest game yet, Tori McKinney did her best to abide as her teammates playfully piled WBIT tournament championship T-shirts on top of her head.

All she could do was smile.

But then, there was a lot to be happy about. Not many college basketball teams get to finish their season with a victory. The Gophers became one of them with a 75-63 victory over Belmont in the WBIT final on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis.

“I think it’s a big step,” McKinney told reporters in Indianapolis postgame.

She was talking about her team, of course. But she could have been talking about herself. McKinney, a freshman guard from Minnetonka, hit 10 of 14 shots and four of seven three-pointers and scored a career-high 26 points.

She also had three steals, helped hound the Bruins (26-13) into 33.3% shooting, and had three assists while being named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

McKinney scored seven points in Minnesota’s 11-2 start to the game. She had nine of Minnesota’s 18 first-quarter points, 10 of the team’s 19 points in the second quarter and seven in a 13-3 start to the third quarter that put the Gophers (25-11) up 24.

“I’m so proud of her,” said junior forward Mallory Heyer, who had plenty to be proud of herself, but more on that later. “She was just everywhere tonight. She was hitting big shots, she was celebrating, she was into it. And on the defensive end? She just does such a great job for us, she did all season. I’m so proud of her to end it this way.”

The Gophers become the second Big Ten Conference team to win the nascent tournament; Illinois won the inaugural title last year.

To be clear, McKinney wasn’t the only reason the Gophers won.

Heyer had another strong game, with her second consecutive double-double. She scored 18 points and matched her career high — set two days prior — with 16 rebounds. In her final two games she scored 31 points with 32 rebounds. Amaya Battle, named to the WBIT all-tournament team, scored 17 points with seven rebounds and five assists.

BOXSCORE: Gophers 75, Belmont 63

Battle (six), Heyer (five) and Grace Grocholski (all six of her points) scored every Gophers point in the fourth quarter, helping stave off a Belmont run that used a string of Gophers turnovers to trim a 58-39 lead after three quarters to 67-58 on Kendal Cheesman’s three with 3:17 left.

But Battle hit two free throws. Grochokski rebounded a Belmont miss, then hit Heyer for a driving layup and a 13-point lead with 1:56 left.

The Gophers shot 46.6% overall, made nine of 23 three-pointers. Their 21 assists — on 27 makes — was the most in 10 games.

But McKinney was, frankly, amazing.

“You look at the stats and you see she scored 26 points,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “But she defended at a very, very high level. She just played great basketball. She attacked when we needed someone to attack. She made good decisions when she did attack. But just a tremendous, tremendous job defensively. Spectacular game.”

McKinney was a big part of a defense that held Belmont guards Tuti Jones and Jailyn Banks to a combined 8-for-27 shooting.

Banks led four Belmont scorers in double figures with 17 points. But she needed 13 shots to do it.

McKinney only needed 14 to score 26.

Afterward she only wanted to talk about the team.

“I think it’s a big step,” she said of the program. “This place is just such a genuine place to be. You could see it out on the court. It’s just a stepping stone to make it further next year.”