Gophers overcome 16-point fourth-quarter deficit, rally to beat Northwestern

It perhaps wasn't the way the Gophers women's basketball team drew it up, but it was an absolutely perfect finish.

No. 24 Minnesota rallied from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Northwestern 87-82 on Sunday in Evanston, Ill.

It looked all but over for the Gophers (17-2, 5-2 Big Ten). After a strong first quarter, the Wildcats (7-10, 0-6) outplayed them over the next two frames, taking an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter and scoring the first five points of the final frame to go up by 16, their largest lead of the afternoon.

But the Gophers closed on an improbable 26-6 run to pull out a victory. Niamya Holloway made three buckets all day, and all came during that stretch, the first of which was a layup that cut the deficit to single digits with 5 minutes, 32 seconds remaining. Grace Grocholski made a bucket, drew a foul and hit the free throw to cut it to a five-point deficit.

The game-tying shot came off the hands of Tori McKinney, in her second game back from a concussion, who drilled a 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 13 seconds remaining to make it an 80-80 ball game. Holloway made back-to-back layups for an 84-80 Gophers lead with 44 seconds left on the clock. But Minnesota wasn't quite in the clear. Not yet anyways.

Caileigh Walsh got an offensive rebounds and a putback to make it 84-82. Amaya Battle was fouled the next possession and made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line. Caroline Lau got a look at a game-tying 3, but it was off the mark. Battle was fouled again on the next possession and drilled both from the line to officially seal the deal on the Gophers victory.

What a comeback.

Grocholski posted a double-double with a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds. Battle made 8 of 10 from the free-throw line and finished with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists. McKinney had 13 points, four assists and three rebounds.

Grace Sullivan led the Wildcats with 18 points, and Walsh and Kyla Jones scored 17 apiece.

The win was critical for the Gophers, who made their first appearance in the Associated Press Top 25 this week since 2019 and were coming off a loss to No. 8 Maryland on Tuesday. They'll look to keep the momentum rolling when they host Michigan at Williams Arena in Minneapolis for a 7 p.m. tipoff Wednesday night.