Minnesota Hosts Pacific on Tuesday Night in Round Two of WNIT

MINNEAPOLIS - After a first round bye in the WNIT, the University of Minnesota women's basketball team is hosting the Pacific Tigers in round two at Williams Arena on Tuesday night. The game is scheduled to tip at 7 p.m. CT, with a broadcast available on B1G+ while Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist will broadcast the game on KFAN+.

GAME INFORMATION
TV/Stream: B1G+
Tip Time: 7:01 p.m. CT
Radio: KFAN+ (96.7 FM) and the iHeartRadio app (Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist)

ABOUT THE PACIFIC GAME

Minnesota and Pacific are meeting for the first time with the WNIT appearance being the seventh in program history. Against the West Coast Conference the Maroon and Gold hold a record of 10-1 with the last meeting being against San Diego in 2018 (1956 days ago).
Pacific comes into Tuesday's second round WNIT game after picking up a 20-point win over Cal Poly in the first round in Stockton, Calif. In the 63-43 win Pacific was led by Elizabeth Elliott with 16 points while grabbing five rebounds and matching her career-high four blocks. Senior Kadie Deaton finished with 11 points and a season-high nine rebounds.
The Tigers took on two Power 5 opponents this season, both against Pac-12 teams. The first was against a future Big Ten program, Washington, with the Huskies taking down the Tigers 81-64 in Seattle. Pacific also played Arizona State on the road and fell by 10.
This season Pacific finished 8-8 in the WCC, and reached the conference semifinals before falling to No. 1 seed Gonzaga, 72-61. The team's best win, in regards to the NET rankings, was against Temple at the Briann January Classic, which was played at Desert Financial Arena on the campus of Arizona State. In that game the Tigers defeated the Owls 79-78, holding on for the win despite a massive 31-point fourth quarter from Temple.
Individually Pacific has been paced by Elizabeth Elliot who scores an average of 13.3 points per game and adds an average of 5.6 rebounds per game, which also leads the team. The Tigers have four other individuals who average over 10 points per game, with those other four individuals all hitting 27 or more threes this season.

GOPHER NOTABLES

Minnesota finished 1-1 in the Big Ten Tournament at Target Center, with their last game being against Michigan on March 7, which ended with the Wolverines on top 76-57. In that game Amaya Battle was elite once again with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Freshman Ayianna Johnson also had 12 points in her second career postseason game and added seven rebounds and a pair of blocks. Off the bench true freshman Ajok Madol also added a career high 11 points.
Battle's incredible Big Ten Tournament opener against Rutgers was one for the record books with the Hopkins, Minn., native registering a new program record for points in the Big Ten Tournament with 32 while also posting a program record 15 free throw attempts in a Big Ten Tournament game, hitting on 11 of those. Battle's seven assists, with zero turnovers, also pushed the sophomore to 303 career assists in just 61 games. For more details on Battle's historic performance against the Scarlet Knights, see page eight of these game notes.
Minnesota collected three All-Big Ten Awards at the end of the regular season, as voted on the league's coaches and members of the media. Both Braun and Battle earned All-Big Ten Honorable Mention nods while freshman Grace Grocholski earned Big Ten All-Freshman laurels. Junior Maggie Czinano was also named the team's representative for the Sportsmanship Award.
After suffering a foot injury in the fourth quarter against Illinois (1/28) Mara Braun has been cleared for practice with the Maroon and Gold. After the injury 58 days ago, Braun was sidelined indefinitely and missed a total of 11 games. Minnesota was 2-9 in those games and 2-10 if the Illinois game is included. Braun, an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention team member, was one of the Big Ten's top scorers at 17.8 points per game while shooting a career high 37 percent from three.
Minnesota is also expected to have junior Sophie Hart available to play against Pacific after missing the final six games of the season due to a hip injury. Hart averaged 10.5 points and has shot a team-leading 55.2 percent (69-of-125) from the floor, which was No. 6 in the conference during Big Ten play.
Last season the Gophers were ranked 291st in the NCAA and 13th in the Big Ten in turnovers per game (17.7) per game but through 31 games this season are ranked in the top 50 in the country at 13.5.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 - Amaya Battle became the first player in the country this season to have a stat line of 32 points, seven assists, five rebounds and zero assists in the team's Big Ten Tournament win over Rutgers.
11 - Amaya Battle is 11 assists away from breaking into the program's all-time top 10 assists list.
4 - Against conference opponents Janay Sanders has averaged 4.1 drawn fouls per game, which leads the team.
6 - Minnesota is 6-6 all-time in the WNIT, with the team's last win coming in 2022 against Green Bay.
48 - Rachel Banham holds the program record for points in a single WNIT game with 48 back in 2016 against Milwaukee.

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

Maggie Czinano

Grace Grocholski

Sophie Hart

Ayianna Johnson

Ajok Madol

Janay Sanders