Ice-cold Gophers suffer road loss in border battle with Wisconsin

It was a clean border battle sweep for the Badgers Tuesday night as the Wisconsin men's basketball team won a tight game in Minnesota while the Wisconsin women's team held on for a 59-56 win over the Gophers in Madison.

Serah Williams dominated the Gophers in the paint, finishing with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Her play coupled with an ice-cold shooting night was too much for Minnesota to overcome, as they fall to 14-5 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten.

One of the biggest shots of the game came as the shot clock expired with 5:35 left in the fourth quarter and Minnesota freshman Grace Grocholski buried a 3-pointer to give the Gophers a 50-48 lead.

Grocholski, a Wisconsin native, was one of only a few bright spots for the Gophers as she led the way with 13 points. Minnesota shot 33.8% for the game, including 5 for 21 from 3-point range.

Back-to-back buckets from Amaya Battle had the Gophers ahead 54-53 with 4:11 to play, but that was the last time they would lead as Wisconsin answered with a jumper from Williams and a 3-pointer from Tessa Grady for a 58-54 lead with 1:48 remaining.

Then with under a minute to go Battle drove into the paint and Ronnie Porter tied her up for a jump ball that gave possession to the Badgers. Minnesota fouled and Wisconsin missed both free throws, setting the stage for a frantic final 45 seconds.

Mallory Heyer rolled in a one-handed shot with 40.2 seconds to play to cut the deficit to 58-56. Porter then missed a shot and the Gophers got the ball back with 30 seconds to go, but they couldn't convert rest of the way.

Battle missed a shot on the block and Minnesota, down by three with 20 seconds to play, missed two 3-pointers that would've tied the game – one by Heyer and one by Mara Braun – and the Badgers held on for the win.

The latest bracketology from ESPN had the Gophers in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed, and although a road loss in the conference isn't the worst, the loss stings because the Badgers entered the game 8-9 overall and 1-6 in the Big Ten.

Note: Wisconsin's Ronnie Porter is a St. Paul Como Park graduate and was a Minnesota Miss Basketball nominee in 2022.