There were 11.5 seconds left, coming out of a timeout, tie game, last possession of regulation at Williams Arena on Wednesday.
Gophers guard Mara Braun took the inbounds pass at midcourt. She dribbled, calmly, looking over the Nebraska defense. Her instructions? Simple: Get downhill, make a decision. From the left side, she attacked, and she drew defenders. Braun passed the ball to Isabelle Gradwell in the right corner, wide open, and she shot.
Finally, a win.
Gradwell's three-pointer went through the net with 0.3 seconds left, giving the Gophers a 95-92 victory over the Huskers, breaking a six-game losing streak. In a game with seemingly endless momentum swings, the young Gophers remained poised, absorbed some big punches, persevered.
"I'm incredibly proud of our group for their resiliency,'' Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen said. "Just how they handled things, how they handled the ebbs and flows.''
There were plenty of both. In the fourth quarter alone there were 10 lead changes and six ties. Not to mention a few things you don't normally see. Like a five-point Nebraska possession early in the fourth (count it: A three-point play from Jaz Shelley, a Minnesota foul on the made free throw, two more free throws) then a score on the ensuing possession that erased a Gophers lead. Or a four-point play by Shelley with 46 seconds left that tied the game at 92.
Or, simply, Shelley scoring 18 of her 37 points in the fourth quarter.
Through it all? Relative calm from a team that lost in overtime its last game.