Tori McKinney scored a season-high 23 points and Mara Braun added a season-high 22 as the Gophers women’s basketball team pulled away in the second half for an 87-66 victory over Penn State on Wednesday night, Jan. 28, in University Park, Pa.
The Nittany Lions, who were playing without leading scorer Gracie Merkle and brought a 20-game losing streak in the Big Ten into the game, led by one with four minutes left in the second quarter and trailed by only four at halftime. The Gophers (15-6, 6-4 Big Ten) outscored Penn State 45-28 in the second half for their third consecutive victory. The loss was the 11th straight for the Nittany Lions (7-15, 0-11).
Without the 6-foot-6 Merkle, who leads the nation in field-goal percentage (74.2) and is 11th in field goals made (170), Penn State stayed close in the first half by making nine three-pointers. The Nittany Lions were 12-of-28 from three-point range for the game.
“They’re a team with an awful lot of talented young players,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit told KFAN radio after the game. “We started the second half by making adjustments, and it turned the game in our favor. To come back and play as well as we did in the second half speaks volumes about our team.”
The Gophers outscored the Nittany Lions 44-10 in the paint.
“Our post kids did a great job of facilitating our offense,” Plitzuweit said. “It was really important for us. They did a good job of decision-making.”
