After earning its best victory of the year by beating Nebraska on Wednesday, the Minnesota women’s basketball team followed it with one of its worst losses, falling to last-place Northwestern, 76-62, in a Big Ten game Saturday in Evanston, Illinois.
Caileigh Walsh scored a game-high 22 points, and Hailey Weaver had six of the Wildcats’ 18 steals as Northwestern won for just the second time in Big Ten play this season at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
After solving its turnover problem by holding them to nine on Wednesday against the Cornhuskers, Minnesota had a relapse on Saturday, losing the turnover battle, 25-8.
Mara Braun led the Gophers (10-17 overall, 3-13 Big Ten) with 12 points, one of just two Minnesota players in double figures. Katie Borowicz had 11 points, and Mallory Heyer finished with seven points and a game-high seven rebounds as the Gophers outrebounded Northwestern by a healthy margin, 37-25.
But turnovers made the biggest difference on Saturday. Using a zone defense and sometimes a full-court press, the Wildcats (9-18, 2-14) outscored the Gophers 28-5 off turnovers. Those errors played a key role as the game essentially got away from Minnesota early in the fourth quarter.
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Trailing 57-45 after three quarters, the Gophers turned the ball over on their first possession of the fourth, then had a shot blocked as the Wildcats opened with a 7-0 run to build their lead to 64-46 with 7:51 remaining.
Minnesota never got closer than 15 until Braun’s 3-pointer set the final margin with 51 seconds remaining.
Minnesota has two regular-season games remaining, at Michigan State on Wednesday and the season finale against Purdue next Sunday.
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