It pretty much came down to this: Mara Braun would not let the Gophers women’s basketball team lose Saturday at Williams Arena.
Playing a Drake team that ran an efficient offense much of the way, Braun scored 14 of her 33 points after regulation in the Gophers’ 94-88 double-overtime victory
It was Braun’s three early in the second overtime that put the Gophers up 86-85. It was her two free throws with 2:33 left that put the Gophers up four. Mallory Heyer’s step-back jumper with 1:51 left put the Gophers up six and essentially sealed the deal.
In a game that saw 11 players from the two teams score in double figures, Heyer had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double. Sophie Hart and Grace Grocholski each had 12 points.
Katie Dinnebier had 30 points for Drake (5-3).
Down by 11 with 7:50 left, the Gophers finished regulation on a 20-9 run that included six points from Hart and a steal and score by Janay Sanders that tied the score at 74-74. The Gophers held at the other end, forcing overtime.
In the first OT? Braun scored, was fouled and hit the free throw with 1:47 left to put the Gophers up five. At the other end Dinnebier hit a second-chance three. After a Drake free throw made it a one-point game, Braun scored again. But a three by Anna Miller forced a second overtime.
But the second OT was all Gophers — 11-5, with Braun and Heyer leading the way.
After a nearly identical first quarter in which both teams scored 19 points, made nine of 17 shots and had eight rebounds, the Gophers went cold in the second quarter.
Well, Gophers players other than Braun.
Minnesota was outscored 18-12 in the second quarter, and Braun scored 10 of the Gophers’ 12 points. Still, down eight with 4:34 left in the half, the Gophers scored five straight to pull within three.
But then, as the clock wound down on the half, Battle committed a costly foul on Dinnebier on a last-second desperation three. Dinnebier hit all three free throws with 0.1 seconds left on the clock, putting the Bulldogs up six at the half.
Still, in a 9-minute span from mid-second quarter until mid-third, the Gophers used a 17-5 run to go up 43-39 on Battle’s three-point play with 5:34 left in the quarter.
But the rest of the third belonged to Drake, which finished it 21-9, including a three by Dinnebier to end it and send Drake into the fourth up 61-52.