Women's Hoops Back at Williams Sunday Against Presbyterian

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota (2-1, 0-0 B1G) aims to bounce back on Sunday against Presbyterian (2-1, 0-0 Big South) at Williams Arena at 2 p.m. The game can be watched on B1G+ and can be heard on KFAN+ or on the iHeartRadio app with Justin Gaard and Lynette Sjoquist on the call.

ABOUT THIS GAME

The matchup on Sunday will be the first between the Blue Hose and the Golden Gophers. Minnesota brings in a record of 4-0 against the Big South Conference with the last meeting being a win in 2012 over Charleston Southern.
The Blue Hose will have a tight turnaround on Sunday coming off a 7 p.m. tip against St. Thomas. There will be 19 hours between the start of the St. Thomas-Presbyterian game and the start of the Presbyterian-Minnesota game.
The Blue Hose are led by fifth-year head coach Alaura Sharp, a Southwest Minnesota State University grad. In five seasons Sharp holds a record of 44-71.
Presbyterian was picked to finish seventh in the Big South Presesaon Poll.
Last season Presbyterian was 12-18 (6-12 Big South) and reached the Big South Tournament quarterfinals.
Mara Neira is third in the Big South in scoring average this season at 16.0 points per game.
Along with Sharp the Blue Hose have one student-athlete with ties to Minnesota. Sophomore guard Paige Kindseth is a grad of Farmington high school and was an honorable mention All-State honoree in 2018-19.

GOPHER NOTABLES

Last time out the Maroon and Gold suffered a 71-65 setback against North Dakota State University on the road. Minnesota got a career-best performance from sophomore Maggie Czinano with 13 points and seven rebounds along with 15 points from freshman Amaya Battle. Minnesota led by as much as eight during the game, but without freshman Mara Braun's 27.5 points per game, the Gophers shot just 39.7 percent from the floor and scored a season-low 65 points.
After scoring three points in the season opener in 10 minutes sophomore Maggie Czinano has upped her offense to 10.5 per game in the past two games off the bench in an average of about 20 minutes per game. Czinano has gotten to the free throw line 5.5 times per game, shooting 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) from the charity stripe. The Watertown, Minn., native also has averaged 7.0 rebounds per game in the past two games.
Redshirt freshman Katie Borowicz has stepped up her defensive pressure in the last two games, after no registering a steal in the season opener Borowicz has snagged five steals in each of the last two games. Her five steals against Lehigh came in just 20:22 minutes. Borowicz is the first to register five steals in consecutive games in over 9 years (since before 2013).
Mi'Cole Cayton started her first game in 1,833 days (Nov. 10, 2017) against North Dakota State in place of injured Mara Braun. Cayton's last start was at Cal in their 2017-18 season opening game. Cayton finished the game against NDSU with a season-high 17 mintues played with a pair of assists and two rebounds.
The Maroon and Gold's 11 newcomers are broken up by five transfers, four incoming freshmen and two walk-ons. Minnesota's transfers include Destinee Oberg (Arkansas), Mi'Cole Cayton (Nebraska), Isabelle Gradwell (Cleveland State), Angelina Hammond (Miami Dade) and Aminata Zie (Western Nebraska CC). Among the transfer group Isabelle Gradwell has the most experience at the Division I level with now 117 games played while Cayton has played in 81 career games and Oberg at 41.
Minnesota's incoming freshman class has been heralded as one of the most highly touted recruiting classes in program history. All four hail from the great state of Minnesota with Mara Braun (Wayzata, Minn.), Amaya Battle (Hopkins, Minn.), Mallory Heyer (Chaska, Minn.) and Niamya Holloway (Eden Prairie, Minn.). The group comes in as the No. 10 ranked class in the nation, and the No. 1 in the Big Ten, according to ESPN's HoopGurlz Rankings.

BY THE NUMBERS
31 - Minnesota's bench scored a season-high 31 points against NDSU (11/17).
2 - Minnesota will be without two student-athletes for the 2022-23 season after Niamya Holloway and Aminata Zie both suffered season-ending injuries prior to the start of the season.
162 - The Golden Gophers freshmen have scored 162 of the team's 241 points this season.
4 - Freshman Amaya Battle is ranked in the top 12 in the Big Ten in four different categories so far this season (Assist/Turnover - 3rd, Rebounds - 12th, Assists - 5th, Blocks - 9th).

The University of Minnesota heads to Charlottesville, Va., for the Cav Classic on Nov. 26, where Virginia awaits. The Gophers will also take on Liberty in Charlottesville on Nov. 27. The games can be heard on KFAN+ and on the iHeartRadio app with the Virginia game being streamed on ACCNX.

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2022-23 season.

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Players Mentioned

Amaya Battle

Katie Borowicz

Mara Braun

Mi'Cole Cayton

Maggie Czinano

Isabelle Gradwell

Angelina Hammond

Mallory Heyer

Niamya Holloway

Destinee Oberg

Aminata Zie