Sparked by a strong start, the Gophers women’s basketball defeated South Florida 57-45 in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship on Monday in Nassau, Bahamas.
Grace Grocholski scored 14 points and Mara Braun 11 to lead the Gophers (5-1), who never trailed after scoring the first six points of the game at the Baha Mar Convention Center.
A 14-0 Gophers run over a four-minute span in the first quarter put them ahead 20-4, and they led by double digits almost the rest of the way against South Florida (3-3). They led 30-15 at halftime and 40-21 late in the third quarter.
The Bulls got within nine points with 4:30 left and eight in the final minute, before Brylee Glenn made four three throws in the final 31 seconds to close out the victory for the Gophers.
Glenn finished with 10 points for the Gophers, who were without Tori McKinney (concussion protocol). Amaya Battle had nine points and five rebounds and Sophie Hart contributed six points and 10 rebounds.
Fatou Diakite led the Bulls with 16 points and seven rebounds. She was 6-of-7 from the field and made all four of her free throws.
Neither team shot well from the field as the Bulls shot 33.0%(16-of-48) and the Gophers shot 33.9% (19-of-56). The Gophers were 7-of-22 (31.8%) from three-point range, with Braun going 3-for-6, while the Bulls shot only 2-for-18 on threes. The Bulls had 20 turnovers while the Gophers had 17 in the first meeting between the programs since the WBI Tip-Off Tournament in November 2011.
