Minnesota’s homegrown stars Battle and Braun have found their reward for staying through rough times
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When Amaya Battle’s last-second jump shot swished through the net to give Minnesota the lead in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the largest crowd for the Gophers at Williams Arena in more than two years let out maybe the loudest roar yet.
The atmosphere was raucous all afternoon, as Mara Braun fueled further with her game-tying 3-pointer about a minute earlier against Mississippi. Their decision to stay home — and maintain that commitment — never felt better than on Sunday when they advanced to the Sweet 16.
“It just goes to show if you really want to do something, find people who want to do it with you and stick to it,” Battle said. “Shoutout to my teammates, because this is the best year of basketball I have ever played.”
Minnesota (24-8), the No. 4 seed in the region, will play No. 1 seed UCLA (33-1) in Sacramento, California, on Friday night. The Bruins have won 27 straight games, including a 76-58 victory over the Gophers on Jan. 14.
Battle and Braun were the headliners among four recruits then-coach Lindsay Whalen and her staff signed for the 2022-23 season, an all-Minnesota class that was the highest-ranked in program history, pegged the 10th-best nationally by ESPN. Their path to the NCAA regional semifinals, the first such appearance for the program in 21 years, has been anything but smooth.
After the Gophers went 11-19 in that first season for Battle, Braun, Mallory Heyer and Nia Holloway, Whalen was fired. Her successor, Dawn Plitzuweit, persuaded them all to stay. Another Minnesota native, Sophie Hart, transferred from N.C. State to join them.
The Gophers improved under Plitzuweit, but getting over the hump proved to be a challenge in the Big Ten. Braun missed a big chunk of her sophomore year to a foot injury that popped up again last season, limiting her to five games while allowing her to take a medical redshirt year. Heyer opted to transfer to Oregon prior to this season. Holloway, whose freshman year was spent rehabilitating from a torn ACL, was in the rotation in 2023-24 but has not had a meaningful on-court role since.
Earlier this season, the Gophers blew a nine-point lead with less than a minute left in double overtime against Maryland and lost. Braun was struggling to find her shot.
But the group found its stride with a nine-game winning streak highlighted by a win at Iowa and against Ohio State. Braun found her stride down the stretch of the regular season and carried that into the NCAA Tournament, scoring 33 points on 7-for-10 shooting from 3-point range with nine rebounds and three steals in two games.
Whalen, who’s now an assistant with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, was in attendance on Sunday for the atmosphere that rivaled those when she played for the Gophers and led them to their only Final Four appearance in 2004. Whalen has continued to stay connected to those players she once recruited and is also friendly with Plitzuweit.
“We have so much respect for her. She’s still rooting us on every single day. We both get texts from her all the time,” Braun said as she sat next to Battle at the podium for their postgame interview on Sunday. “She paved the way for us, honestly, and when we came here, we wanted to do what she had done and bring the hype back to Minnesota. I think we’re doing that, and a lot of it does go to her.”
Braun has another season to look forward to. Battle, who passed Whalen last month for second place on the program’s all-time assists list, does not. But all of the 1,527 points, 768 rebounds and 595 assists she has collected over her four-year career — TCU’s Olivia Miles, a second team Associated Press All-American, is the only active player with more in each category — aren’t nearly as meaningful as the time she’s spent with her team in her home state.
“We’ve been blessed with a ton of joy. You can see that when we play and practice. I think that’s our superpower. That’s what gets us through,” Battle said. “They’re really my best friends.”
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness