Takeaways: Gophers women’s basketball’s nine-game winning streak ends with 75-61 loss to Michigan State

The Gophers women’s basketball team entered the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time this season at No. 23 last week and promptly knocked off No. 10 Ohio State, running its winning streak to nine games in the process.

On Sunday, Feb. 22, however, Minnesota’s streak ended at Williams Arena with a 75-61 loss to No. 18 Michigan State, which used a 13-1 run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to spoil the Gophers’ final regular-season home game before an announced crowd of 7,088.

“They were the aggressor,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit said of the Spartans. “That was a very physical game, and they kind of took it right to us in a lot of ways.”

Jalyn Brown scored 20 points, Kennedy Blair had 18 and Amy Terrian contributed 11, including nine on three-pointers, for Michigan State (22-6, 11-6 Big Ten).

The Gophers got a huge game from sophomore guard Tori McKinney, who scored 29 points on 10-for-19 shooting, including 5-for-9 from three-point range. Amaya Battle scored 11 points and Sophie Hart had 10 for Minnesota (21-7, 12-5).

“My teammates were just passing me the ball,” McKinney said. “I was hitting shots. They were trusting me to take those shots.”

The Gophers led 16-10 after one quarter and 36-34 at halftime before Michigan State clamped down on defense and Minnesota began missing shots. The Gophers were 13-for-31 (41.9%) from the floor in the first half and even worse in the second, slumping to 10-for-38 (26.3%).

The Spartans got a charge off the bench from Terrian, who hit a pair of three-pointers during MSU’s 13-1 run. The Gophers twice cut their deficit to six in the fourth quarter only to see the Spartans score the game’s final eight points.

“We usually are more disciplined than this,” said Plitzuweit, whose team committed 13 turnovers. “We just need to do a better job taking care of the ball.”

The Gophers entered the game No. 8 in the NET Rankings, the formula that the NCAA tournament selection committee uses to help evaluate and seed teams. They could have strengthened their NCAA résumé with a victory over Michigan State, which was No. 15 in the NET.

Even with the loss, Minnesota still is in play to earn a top-16 seed in the NCAA tournament with the option to host first- and second-round games.

Players, though, weren’t focused on tournament time.

BOXSCORE: No. 18 Michigan State 75, No. 23 Gophers 61

Big Ten standings

The Gophers saluted five seniors before their final home game: forward Tracy Bershers, guard Brylee Glenn, forward Finau Tonga, center Sophie Hart and guard Amaya Battle.