Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament / Session 1

The Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament is underway in Minneapolis, MN. As expected, (12) Purdue and (11) Minnesota got out of Day 1 with victories. Let me take you through both games:

It all started off with (12) Purdue and (13) Northwestern. The Boilermakers escaped with a 78-72 victory. The Wildcats came into the game as 11.5 point underdogs but didn’t play like it. In fact, Northwestern led this game by 12 with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter. Caileigh Walsh and Melannie Daley were the standouts for Northwestern. Walsh had 26 points and 8 rebounds while Daley had 21 points. The Wildcats finish their season (9-22, 4-15).

Purdue was led by Abbey Ellis who had 25 points and 10 rebounds. If the Boilermakers had been defeated, it would’ve been the end of the road for the guard:

“I’m glad 23 (Abbey’s jersey number) put us on her back and finished the game for us,” Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds said.

The Boilermakers also had key contributions from Rashunda Jones who had 19 points off the bench in the victory.

“She’s a special kid,” Gearlds said about Jones.

Purdue improves to (6-13, 14-17) and will look to fight another day when they face (5) Nebraska at roughly 2:00 PM CT.

Then it was off to the nightcap as (11) Minnesota defeated (14) Rutgers 77-69. There’s an obvious advantage for any game the Golden Gophers play due to this tournament being played at the Target Center which is both the home to the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

“We need to be really thankful for this opportunity because our trip to get to the Big Ten Tournament is 10 minutes, 15 if there’s some traffic lights,” Minnesota head coach Dawn Plitzuweit said.

Rutgers came into this tournament with the worst overall and conference record (2-17, 8-25) but played with tons of heart especially Destiny Adams. The North Carolina transfer had 31 points (12-24 shooting) and 24 rebounds while committing 0 turnovers.

“I knew I had to get the ball and put it through the hoop,” Adams said.

Tonight was about the Minnesota born and raised guard Amaya Battle who put on a show for the *home crowd*. Battle had 32 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and committed 0 turnovers.

“Like I said, just having a blank mind. Then also my coaches, they’ve invested in me. They’ve been helping me grow my game and understand what I need to do and what they expect from me,” Battle said.

The Golden Gophers improve to (6-13, 17-14) and can seriously damage some March Madness lives tomorrow night if they can defeat (6) Michigan. That game will tip at 8:00 PM CT.