Gophers women’s basketball team hangs in for a half, then sees No. 1 UCLA motor away

The visiting Gophers women’s basketball team was determined not to let UCLA center Lauren Betts score Sunday.

They helped. They collapsed on Betts in the paint and limited her to six points on five shots.

So Betts passed. And passed. And passed.

The top-ranked Bruins (21-0 overall) took over sole possession of first place in the Big Ten at 9-0 with a 79-53 victory over the Gophers.

And while the 6-7 Betts scored a season low in points — it was the only game she hasn’t reached double figures — she did have a career-high 11 assists for a balanced Bruins attack that took a close game after two quarters and turned it into a one-sided victory in the second half.

“She’s the best player in the country for a reason,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit said by phone after the game.

Plitzuweit and her staff had a decision to make. Guard Betts one-on-one and she’ll score. A lot. And she’ll also draw fouls. Collapse and Betts is tall enough to see over the double- and triple-teams.

The No. 1 Bruins did. Ten UCLA players scored, five scored nine or more points, seven hit at least one three-pointer. Elina Aarnisalo (15 points), Kiki Rice (14) and Londynn Jones (13) were a combined 7-for-15 on threes for a Bruins team that made 13 from behind the arc. Betts assisted on five of those 13 makes.

But that wasn’t the only problem. The Bruins are balanced on offense, but they’re also amazing on defense, which led to their 46-25 advantage in the second half. The Gophers scored a season low in points, committed a season-high 17 turnovers. The Bruins had a 21-5 edge on points off turnovers, a 32-7 edge on bench points.

“They’re a great defensive team,” Gophers point guard Amaya Battle said by phone.

Battle scored 21 points on 10-for-15 shooting. But only four of those points came in the second half, when UCLA heightened the perimeter pressure while simultaneously stymying the Gophers at the rim.

“They were extra-physical in the second half,” Battle said. “Even more ball pressure. They made it really difficult.”

Then the Bruins turned up the pressure. The way to counter that is to score inside. But the Gophers struggled again to finish at the rim. According to Plitzuweit, the Gophers were 3-for-11 at the rim in the first half, 1-for-4 to start the second. And by then the Bruins were on their way.

“As my old college coach used to say, ‘A missed layup at one end leads to a layup at the other,’” Plitzuweit said. “I really felt we had a hard time getting back in transition on defense.”

Battle and Grace Grocholski (12 points on 5-for-12 shooting) scored 33 of the Gophers’ 53 points. The rest of the team combined to score 20 points on 7-for-31 shooting.

“It’s hard when teams get really physical — and are allowed to be physical," Plitzuweit said. “You have to be able to get to the rim and score it. That wasn’t a strength of ours in this game.”

After a difficult few days on the West Coast — the Gophers lost to No. 4 USC on Thursday — the Gophers return home for games against Iowa and Indiana. The Hawkeyes are coming off a 76-69 home upset of USC on Sunday.