Gophers women’s basketball team heads to Northwestern aiming to regain footing
Minnesota had won four Big Ten games in a row and landed the No. 24 ranking before Maryland ended the streak.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 19, 2025 at 12:09AM
2 p.m. Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena
TV, radio: Big Ten Network Plus, 96.7-FM
Gophers update: Minnesota (16-2 overall, 4-2 Big Ten) had a four-game conference winning streak ended at No. 8 Maryland, a game in which the Gophers trailed by 20 with under three minutes left but got within three with 19 seconds left. Before that the Gophers landed their first Top 25 ranking since 2019, entering at No. 24. Point guard Amaya Battle has averaged 15.8 points, 4.7 assists and 6.3 rebounds in her past six games. Mallory Heyer has scored in double figures in six of her past eight games. Grace Grocholski has scored in double figures in four straight games, hitting better than 38 percent on three-pointers in that time. The Gophers, with the conference’s best scoring defense, allowed 99 points to Maryland. The Gophers have lost consecutive games at Northwestern.
Northwestern update: The Wildcats (7-9, 0-5) haven’t played since Jan. 8; the wildfires in California led to postponement of Northwestern’s two-game road trip to USC and UCLA. Northwestern is winless in the conference and has won its past four overall, but its most recent loss, against a good Indiana team, was by just four points. Northwestern has won four of its past six games — including conference tournament play — against Minnesota. The Wildcats, who have four players averaging 10 points per game or better, are led by 6-3 senior Caileigh Walsh (11.3 points) and senior Melannie Daley (11.3). The Wildcats are 17th in the Big Ten in scoring defense (71.6), 18th in three-point shooting (27.4) and 16th in scoring (66.4).
Minnesota rallied to tie it in the third period, but Blake Biondi’s goal won it for Notre Dame.
