The Gophers won the quarterfinal game of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT) in overtime, 82-77, against Gonzaga University at Williams Arena on Thursday.
Junior Amaya Battle put up a career-high 35 points with 10 assists in her 100th game with the Gophers. Battle also shot perfectly from the free-throw line, going nine for nine.
In the first half, freshman Tori McKinney and Battle helped set the pace for the Gophers, combining for 27 of the Gophers’ 34 points.
Battle did not feel like the pressure was all on her, though.
“I just feel like any time we’re not making shots, we all have a sense of urgency,” Battle said. “Throughout the whole team we’re like, alright, we gotta get a bucket.”
Battle acknowledged how important sophomore Grace Grocholski and McKinney’s scoring efforts were.
Though Grocholski only scored three points in the first half, she came alive in the third and ended the game with 20 points.
The Gophers needed Grocholski, as they lost their early lead and ended the half trailing 35-34.
“I was just going to keep shooting it, I mean they were getting me open, I had open looks,” Grocholski said. “If you don’t take a good shot that’s almost, you know, hurting the team.”
A Grocholski 3-point shot gave the Gophers a 70-67 lead, but Gonzaga fought back and sent the game into overtime, 70-70.
In overtime, the Gophers were able to maintain a lead, despite McKinney fouling out. She left the game with 19 points and two steals.
“There were three players that really carried them,” said Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier. “I haven’t seen a stat sheet that looked quite like that, where those three players had almost all of their points.”
Seventy-four of the 82 points were scored by Battle, Grocholski and McKinney. Head coach Plitzuweit responded to Fortier’s comment.
“Was she talking about her team scoring or our team scoring,” said Plitzuweit. “We kept talking about how Ejim was a kid that you had to have really good attention to.”
Plitzuweit added when they guarded Ejim with two defenders, she was not stopped.
Gophers could not contain Gonzaga fifth-year senior Yvonne Ejim, who finished the game with 27 points and 15 rebounds, nine of them offensive rebounds.
She averaged just under 21 points per game and was named a Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award finalist this year. She won the award in 2024.
Plitzuweit said players like senior Sophie Hart and freshman Niamya Holloway contributed well to the team in ways that did not show up on their stat sheets.
“(Hart) played great for us down the stretch and our offense was a lot better when she was in the game,” said Plitzuweit. “Holloway helped us a great, great deal in a lot of those scenarios, too.”
The Gophers will play the University of Florida on Monday in Indianapolis, Indiana for the WBIT semifinals.
