Women's Hoops Hosting Field Trip Day against Grambling

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's basketball team (9-1, 1-0 B1G) return to non-conference action with a matinee matchup with Grambling State (3-4, 0-0 SWAC) on Dec. 13, at 11 a.m. The game serves as the team's 'Field Trip Game' with youth from throughout the state set to join the Gophers on Wednesday morning. The game is scheduled to be broadcast by B1G+ while Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist will broadcast the game on KFAN+.

GAME INFORMATION
TV/Stream: B1G+
Tip Time: 11:01 A.M.
Radio: KFAN+ (96.7 FM) and the iHeartRadio app (Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist)
Promotions: All students 8th grade and under, staff/faculty, and administrators receive FREE admission as the Gophers take on the Grambling State Tigers!

ABOUT THE GRAMBLING STATE GAME

Minnesota and Grambling State have never met with Minnesota holding a 6-3 record against the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Gophers last meeting with a member of the SWAC came in 2018 when the team defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Grambling is led by fellow first-year head coach Courtney Simmons who took over the Tigers after 10 years as an assistant at Troy. Simmons appearance at Williams Arena will be her second of her career with Simmons playing at Louisville when the Cardinals visited the Gophers in November of 2007 when the Golden Gophers won 74-69 with Simmons scoring four points, one rebound and three assists in 22 minutes.
This season Grambling is 3-4 overall with another win over an NAIA squad to hold an unofficial record of 4-4. The Tigers did take down one Power 5 opponent this season, a 70-67 home win over Arizona State on Nov. 16. Grambling also has taken on South Florida, Houston and Oklahoma with those losses coming by an average of 30.7 points.
Sophomore guard DeMya Young is the team's leading scorer this season at 12.7 points per contest. The Manor, Texas, native has a season high of 23 that she put in against Arizona State. Young missed the Oklahoma game, but returned on Dec. 11, to take on Wiley College in the team's unofficial 109-41 victory at home. Graduate student Anijah Grant is second on the team in scoring at 9.4 per game while sophomore Jazmyne Jackson is also at 9.0 points per game. Junior Brenda McKinney is the team's leading rebounder with an average of 7.3 boards while contributing 8.3 points of her own.
Through Dec. 10, the Tigers are one of the best teams statistically at turning their opponents over with an average of 24.0 per game, the eight-best rate in the nation. Grambling has forced 19.7 turnovers per game against the team's three Power 5 opponents this season. The team also hits the offensive glass hard with an average of 18.9 per game, good enough for No. 4 in the NCAA.

GOPHER NOTABLES

Minnesota won its sixth straight on Dec. 10, opening conference play with a thrilling 60-58 come-from-behind victory over Purdue (6-4, 0-1 B1G) at Williams Arena. The Maroon and Gold overcame a four-point deficit with under 90 seconds to go to win in regulation with clutch free throws from Amaya Battle with three seconds left. Sophomore Mara Braun notched her sixth 20-point performance of the season, leading the way with 21 points with four of her eight shots coming from beyond the arc.
For the second time this season Braun was named to the Big Ten's weekly honor roll after her performances in Minnesota's wins over Kentucky and Purdue. Braun averaged 23.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game and hit a clutch jumper to tie the Purdue game with 13 seconds left and made the game-clinching steal as time expired to defeat the Boilermakers at home. Braun extended her program record for consecutive free throws made to 37 before it snapped; the streak goes down as the fifth-longest streak in conference history. From the Norfolk St. game (Nov. 29) and the Purdue game (Dec. 10) Braun did not register a turnover for over 137 minutes, the longest streak by a Gopher this season.
The Gophers have made steady improvement in the turnover department this season committing just 11.3 in their last four games, down from 15.0 in their first six games. Last season the Gophers were ranked 291st in the NCAA and 13th in the Big Ten in turnovers per game at 17.7 per game but through 10 games of the 2023-24 season are ranked 43rd in the country and No. 5 in the Big Ten at 13.5.
Sophie Hart has been one of the hottest players on the Gophers in the last four games with the junior center posting an average of 11.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest, up from 9.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in her first six games. During the four-game stretch Hart has shot 21-of-35 (60.0 percent) from the floor and has just one turnover in her last 105.4 minutes on the floor.
Minnesota's defense has been outstanding this season, with the team's 54.5 points per game allowed leading the Big Ten and good enough for 55th in the NCAA. This season the 'U' allows teams to shoot just 36.0 percent from the floor, which is No. 3 in the conference and is 59th in the NCAA while committing just 12.7 fouls per game, which is No. 1 in the league and No. 8 in the country through Dec. 11. The 'U' has forced 20.2 turnovers per game, which has led to 20.4 points per game off turnovers.
Head Coach Dawn Plitzuweit has led Minnesota to a 3-0 start in the month of December, a month that Plitzuweit has seen much success in her career. The first-year Gopher coach holds a career December record at the Division I level of 51-20 (71.8 winning percentage) and since 2016 Plitzuweit has a December record of 42-8 (84.0 winning percentage).

BY THE NUMBERS
31 - Minnesota's fourth quarter defense this season has allowed just 31.9 percent shooting from the field.
1 - Minnesota has had the same starting lineup of Battle, Braun, Grocholski, Heyer and Hart in all 10 games this season.
8 - Minnesota posted a season low eight turnovers in the win over Purdue.
12 - Amaya Battle has averaged 12 attempts per game in the past four games, up from 7.3 attempts per game in her first six games.
78 - Minnesota wins 78.6 percent of their games (11-3) where Mara Braun has 20 or more points or Amaya Battle has three or fewer turnovers.

Minnesota will take the weekend off before getting back to action on Dec. 21, when Lindenwood comes to Williams Arena. That game will tip at 3 p.m. on B1G+ and will be the final game of Minnesota's 2023-24 non-conference schedule.

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 (X.com), Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2023-24 season.

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Players Mentioned

Amaya Battle

Mara Braun

Sophie Hart