Before the Gophers' loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten tournament, coach Lindsay Whalen summed up her team's situation in true Minnesota fashion: with a weather analogy.
The Gophers' top three scorers were injured and would not play in Wednesday's tournament opener. Whalen reminded her eight remaining players that during last month's extreme cold, they kept practicing, kept meeting, kept going to class. That message — to continue pressing forward, no matter the circumstances — stayed in their heads through a 72-61 defeat at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Leading scorer Sara Scalia suffered an undisclosed injury in practice Tuesday, joining fellow starters Jasmine Powell and Kadi Sissoko on the sidelines. That forced others to play out of position, expand their roles and take on more minutes.
A disastrous second quarter put the ninth-seeded Gophers (8-13) into a 17-point hole. They improved in the second half, earning praise from Whalen for their persistence. No. 8 seed Nebraska (12-11) will face top-seeded Maryland in Thursday's quarterfinals.
"I told [players] that not every day is going to be 75 and sunny," Whalen said. "You're going to face adversity, and you have no option but to keep going.
"Our second half, we ended up playing really well. I told them I was proud of them for that. Everybody who got in the game had a really, really good effort."
BOXSCORE: Nebraska 72, Gophers 61
Freshman guard Katie Borowicz, in her first college start, and senior Gadiva Hubbard led the Gophers with 12 points each. Borowicz, of Roseau, finished with career highs in points and minutes (37). Another player from northern Minnesota — Nebraska guard Sam Haiby of Moorhead — scored a game-high 19 points and added eight rebounds.
The Huskers outscored the Gophers 34-16 in the paint and 16-3 in points off turnovers. They led by as many as 20 in the second half before the Gophers cut the margin to 10, as their shooting, ballhandling and defense sharpened up.
The Gophers outscored Nebraska 40-34 over the final 20 minutes and committed only two second-half turnovers.
"After the first half, we could have given up and let Nebraska roll us over," said forward Laura Bagwell Katalinich, who led the team with a season-high nine rebounds. "But we fought in the second half. Even if it didn't go our way, I think that's something to be proud of and to build on for next season."
Whalen got confirmation Wednesday morning that Scalia, who averages 14.5 points per game, could not play. Powell missed her third game because of an ankle injury, and Sissoko was sidelined after falling and hitting her head in last Friday's loss at Illinois. The three average a combined 42 points, 60% of the Gophers' offensive output.
The Huskers gave the Gophers an opening in the third quarter, making only one of their first 10 field-goal attempts. The Gophers mounted a little run, outscoring the Huskers 10-3 to pull within 47-35 late in the quarter.
The team struggled in the first half as players adapted to unfamiliar roles, with some switching among multiple positions. The Gophers committed nine turnovers in the half and shot only 25% in the second quarter, going nearly seven minutes without a field goal as Nebraska raced to a 38-21 halftime lead.
"There was all this adjusting," Bagwell Katalinich said. "We had a little trouble getting going. In the third quarter, we started finding the right people at the right spots."
Borowicz said the Gophers began focusing on only two things: playing hard and having fun. As they got more comfortable, they ramped up the defensive pressure. Nebraska made only one of 10 field-goal attempts to start the third quarter, but the still-cold Gophers couldn't gain ground.
Their shots finally started to fall in the fourth quarter. Borowicz had eight points, including a pair of three-pointers, and better offensive rebounding led to several second-chance points.
"In the second half, we stopped worrying about who was playing what position," Whalen said. "Once we locked in to that, we settled in and played our game."
The Star Tribune did not travel for this game. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews before and/or after the game.
