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Continued: U women get chance for redemption

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WOMEN'S BIG TEN TOURNAMENT GOPHERS VS. IOWA

7:30 tonight • Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis • TV: Big Ten Network (88.5-FM)

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INDIANAPOLIS - Emily Fox will admit that it stung.

Fox, a senior, is one of three captains for the Gophers women's basketball team, a squad whose collective back is up against the wall entering the Big Ten tournament. She took it personally when coach Pam Borton criticized the leadership of the team after Sunday's 61-50 loss to lowly Illinois in the regular-season finale.

"Any time she talks about leadership, I take it personally," Fox said this week as the Gophers (19-10, 11-7 Big Ten) prepared for tonight's game with Iowa (20-9, 13-5). "I need to step it up."

The whole team does.

Only a couple of weeks ago, the Gophers appeared set for an NCAA tournament berth. And then last week happened, an up-and-down ride that left Borton stewing and the Gophers sweating. First there was a 62-53 loss at also-ran Northwestern. Three days later the Gophers went to Michigan State and handed the second-seeded Spartans a 66-51 loss. But Sunday, on Senior Day in front of a huge crowd, the listless Gophers were outhustled and outrebounded in a loss to Illinois.

Borton questioned her team's effort, leadership and lack of consistency. Fox, along with fellow captains Brittany McCoy and Ashley Ellis- Milan, listened.

Borton knows a team can't be remade in a few days. Still, a lot of time has been spent this week on making sure the players and coaches are on the same page. Borton had a captains meeting Tuesday, talking to each captain about their roles. Later that day the players took a road trip for a bowling outing.

Maybe a team that bowls together can stay together through the wringer of the Big Ten tournament. The fifth-seeded Gophers, losers of four of their past six games, almost certainly need to beat fourth-seeded Iowa in order to quality for the NCAA tournament.

"It's a disappointing position to be in," Borton said. ''We decided to have probably the worst week we've had this year in the last week of the season, which is the worst time to have it. I think you can hide a week like that in December or the beginning of January. But not at the end of the year."

After the loss to Illinois, Borton couldn't hide her frustration. By Wednesday, Borton said she had cooled off, talked to her team and said her team's leadership was in a "very good spot."

"But now it's performance," she said. "It's getting the performance in our veterans that we need to get on a consistent basis."

The players know what's possible. The Gophers swept second-seeded Michigan State, they won at Ohio State and split with Iowa. Last week they responded to the Northwestern loss with a strong effort in East Lansing.

"I think we were really disappointed in our play [against Illinois]," Ellis-Milan said. "We questioned ourselves, 'How can you go out to Michigan State and win and then lose our last home game?' But we're ready to move on and ready to go to the Big Ten tournament with confidence."

Fox, meanwhile, has extra incentive. She's a senior.

"For me, this is a huge game," she said. ''I want to go to the NCAA tournament my senior year."

Live chat with Gophers writer Myron P. Medcalf, noon today on startribune.com.

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