It was a tale of two shooting percentages tonight, as Northwestern lost its tenth straight game to Minnesota on the road. The Wildcats shot the ball at a brutal 29% clip, and a long Gopher run in the second quarter put the game out of reach before the second half even started.
Grace Sullivan had a worse game than normal, but she still finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Xamiya Walton also contributed, leading the team with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
For Minnesota, Tori McKinney dominated the entire evening, scoring 18 points in the first half alone. She finished with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, helping to fuel the run that put the Gophers in control.
The Gophers were also incredibly careful with the ball, finishing with 12 turnovers which all happened after the game was out of reach. On the other hand, Northwestern coughed up the ball a lot during the meat of the game, finishing with 16. Minnesota took full advantage, scoring 23 points off turnovers in the contest. It also shot the ball at a 50% clip, which was just too much to handle for NU.
Northwestern got out to an early deficit in the first quarter of this one, something that's been a concerning theme for this year's group. The Gophers led 23-11 after the end of the first frame with Tori McKinney leading the charge -- she had 10 points in the period.
For Northwestern, there wasn't a glaring issue early on other than shooting. The 'Cats only had one turnover for a large part of the first. They trailed in the rebounding battle, but only by four. The biggest problem was that they shot 3-for-11 from the field, and the Gophers shot 9-of-19.
The second quarter, to put it lightly, was a disaster. Minnesota outscored the Wildcats 25-7 in the second, including a gut wrenching 23-0 run where Northwestern couldn't do anything right. By halftime, the Gophers led 48-18.
The Wildcats had six turnovers in the second quarter. They were out-rebounded 12-6. Minnesota finished the half shooting 53% to Northwestern's 23%. It was an ugly showing, and it allowed the game to get out of hand fast.
In the second half, Northwestern wasn't able to claw back in the game. The 'Cats were out-scored 17-9 in the third quarter, and a solid showing in the final frame wasn't nearly enough. As a plus, Xamiya Walton did get herself going, scoring all of her points in the second half.
On Sunday, Northwestern will return to Welsh-Ryan Arena to play Rutgers, hoping to avoid its eleventh straight loss.