It was at the end of the pregame shootaround that Gophers women's basketball coach Dawn Pritzweit sensed there might be a problem.
Her players were alert and enthusiastic. But none of the shots fell.
And that's what happened in-game. The Gophers lost to St. Louis 69-50 in the WNIT Championship Game on Saturday. The event was held at the Edwardsville campus in southern Illinois, about 30 minutes northeast of St. Louis. So, in reality, it was a neutral site in name only.
It didn't necessarily matter. But after a lopsided loss — the final score didn't show how well the Billikens (22-18) played while winning for the 11th time in 12 games — Pritzweit said the team wanted to do the right thing but couldn't do it. I have the legs to do it.
“It's not a matter of them not trying,” Pritzweit said. “I just ran out of gas.”
Yes, the Gophers (20-16) struggled to reach the title game. It's also true that the Billikens played four of their six WNIT games on the road, including Wednesday's semifinal win over Vermont.
But Pritzweit pointed out that the team traveled more than 3,500 miles across three time zones in six days to play in Laramie, Wyoming, Troy, Alabama, and then a third game in Edwardsville. , said all those miles caught up. team.
It was shown. The Gophers shot 33.9% overall, but made just 4 of his 23 3-pointers. They went 6-of-14 from the free throw line and committed 20 turnovers.
The Gophers got off to a cold start and never warmed up offensively. The veteran Billikens, on the other hand, made 11 of 24 3-point shots in the game, giving them a 50 percent success rate overall, and 4 of 6 3-pointers in the second half.
St. Louis ended the first quarter on a 14-4 run to take a seven-point lead and never looked back, increasing their lead to 12 points at halftime, 22 points after three quarters, and midway through the fourth quarter. They expanded their lead to 28 points.
Kyla McMakin (20 points), Peyton Kennedy (19 points) and Kennedy Calhoun (11 points) combined for 50 points, tying the Gophers' total points. Julia Martinez came off the bench and had 10 rebounds and six assists while scoring just three points.
Sophie Hart led the Gophers with 13 points and seven rebounds. Mallory Heyer had 11 points and 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double. Janae Sanders had 12 points.
Point guard Amaya Battle dealt with a double team early on and was held scoreless for the first time this season after averaging 17 points per game over the past four contests.
“When the season started, I thought Amaya was passive,” Pritzweit said. “We kept trying to make her more aggressive. She was really aggressive during her postseason, but maybe she was too aggressive today. ”
Pritzweit said that even through the disappointment, the team doesn't lose sight of how much it has grown over the season and learned in the postseason.
“They learned a lot of great lessons,” Pritzweit said. “How you fight through adversity, how you play in tough conditions. We understand what the postseason is like now. They weren't in that situation before.”
Still, considering the momentum the Gophers had built heading into Saturday's game with a 5-1 record after the regular season, the way the season ended should have been painful.
But the Gophers, the youngest team in the Big Ten this season, have some experience. They won 20 games for the first time since the 2018-19 season and played into April for the first time, but their season ended when leading scorer Mara Brown was sidelined with a foot injury.
“There are a lot of positives to take from this, and I hope people focus on that,” Pritzweit said.
The Star Tribune did not send the author of this article to the game. This is written using broadcasts, interviews, and other materials.