Gophers women have Senior Night spoiled in 72-62 loss to Washington
Gophers Senior Night spoiled in 72-62 loss to Washington
The Gophers women's basketball team lost to Washington 72-62 Wednesday night in the regular season home finale at Williams Arena to fall to 20-9, and 8-9 in Big Ten play. Dawn Plitzuweit, Grace Grocholski and Annika Stewart spoke with reporters after the game.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota women’s basketball team still has some work to do to solidify a spot in the NCAA Tournament in Dawn Plitzuweit’s second season.
The Gophers tried to send Alexsia Rose, Maggie Czinano, Annika Stewart and Jordan Brooks out on Senior Night with a win in the last game of the season at Williams Arena, but Washington had other ideas. The Gophers lost to the Huskies 72-62 to fall to 20-9 on the season, and 8-9 in the Big Ten with one regular season game left before the Big Ten Tournament.
Minnesota entered the night 12th in the Big Ten. The top 15 teams advance to the conference tournament. After starting the season 16-1, the Gophers are now 4-8 in their last 12 games.
"Very frustrating," Grace Grocholski said.
"Unfortunately we’ve been in this position a lot, we’ve had a lot of close games that we haven’t been able to string out. We really just gotta go back to the basics," Stewart said. "It takes all of us to buy into Coach P.’s plan, I know that we trust her but it’s up to us to make sure we execute."
How it happened
By the numbers:
The Gophers had a 24-12 lead in the second quarter before shots started falling for the Huskies. Washington closed the half on a 21-9 run to get the game tied. They started the second half with a 13-4 run to take a 46-37 lead.
The Gophers trailed by as many as 17 in the second half. At one point, Washington made 15 of 17 shots, and were 20-of-26 from the field in the second and third quarters combined as they went on a 36-13 run to take control of the game. The Gophers got as close as five points with 2:10 to play, but Elle Ladine’s 3-pointer at the end of a shot clock sealed the win for Washington. Ladine led the Huskies with 26 points.
"They scored at will against us, and we didn’t give them a whole lot of resistance at any point in time in the game. It didn’t get better as the game wore on. We didn’t defend at a very high level and we didn’t do a good job defending our home court in a couple different scenarios, so tough for the seniors to have to go out," Gophers' coach Dawn Plitzuweit said.
Stewart and Grace Grocholski each had 13 points for Minnesota. The Gophers finish the season 13-4 at Williams Arena.
Senior send off for 4 Gophers
What they're saying:
Wednesday night marked the final game at Williams Arena for four seniors - Stewart, Czinano, Rose and Brooks. Czinano stuck with the program through four years of injuries, and Plitzuweit replacing Lindsay Whalen.
All four were honored before the game on the court with their families.
"They’ve done a great job of coming in and helping move the program forward. Maggie has been here the longest, and she’s been through an awful lot in her four years. They’re just tremendous young women," Plitzuweit said.
What’s next
The schedule:
Minnesota closes out the regular season Saturday at Michigan State. The Gophers have already 20 wins for the second straight season, but likely need to win at least one game at the Big Ten Tournament to get their named called on Selection Sunday.