WNIT Title Game Pits Gophers against Billikens

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's basketball team will play for the WNIT Championship on Saturday as it takes on Saint Louis (21-18, 8-9 A-10). The game will be held at First Community Arena on the campus of SIU-Edwardsville. Saturday's title game will be aired on CBS Sports Network, while Tanner Hoops and Lynnette Sjoquist will provide radio coverage on 96.7 KFAN+.

GAME INFORMATION
TV/Stream: CBS Sports Network
Tip Time: 2 p.m. CT
Radio: 96.7 KFAN+ and the iHeartRadio app (Tanner Hoops and Lynnette Sjoquist)

GOPHER NOTABLES

Minnesota defeated Troy, 74-69, on the road in the 'Fab 4' of the WNIT Wednesday night. The Gophers had four players score in double figures, led by Amaya Battle, who had 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Mallory Heyer tacked on 15 points and nine rebounds and Sophie Hart recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Grace Grocholski added 11 points, including a late-game 3-pointer that put Minnesota up by four points with 38 seconds left.
With a 20-15 record on the season, Minnesota has now won 20 games in a season for the 15th time in program history and the first time since 2018-19 when it went 21-11 and advanced to the second round of the WNIT.
Minnesota beat Wyoming 65-54 on the road April 1 to advance to the 'Fab 4' of the WNIT. Amaya Battle scored 29 points, while Sophie Hart chipped in 14, Mallory Heyer had eight points and nine rebounds and Grace Grocholski added a career-high 11 rebounds. The game was tied 40-40 before Minnesota outscored Wyoming 25-14 in the fourth quarter. Minnesota held Wyoming to only 39.6 percent shooting from the field, including 21.1 percent from beyond the arc. The Gophers limited Wyoming to only two offensive rebounds while collecting 32 defensive rebounds.
For the first time in seven appearances in the WNIT the Golden Gophers have reached the championship game. Prior to 2024 Minnesota's best finish in the WNIT was in the 'Super 16' back in 2014. Minnesota is now 10-6 all-time in the WNIT. The most points scored in a WNIT game in program history was 48 points by Rachel Banham vs. Milwaukee in 2016.
Minnesota has won one postseason tournament before in its history, taking home the 2012 WBI Tournament title. The Gophers went 4-0 with wins over Charleston Southern, Bradley, Manhattan and an 88-74 victory over Northern Iowa in the championship game.

ABOUT THE SAINT LOUIS GAME

Minnesota and Saint Louis have met twice before in their history, both of which were Gopher wins. The first was a 68-42 win in Minneapolis on Dec. 15, 1999. Coincidentally, prior to that first meeting with the Billikens, the Gophers were also coming off a victory at Troy, just like this season. Minnesota and Saint Louis met again a year later in a 77-71 Gopher victory at the Bauman–Eberhardt Center on Dec. 10, 2000.
This season Saint Louis has taken on four 'Power 5' programs and split those games with a 2-2 record. The Billikens posted a 93-85 over Missouri on Nov. 12 and won at Wisconsin in the 'Great 8' of the WNIT, 65-60. The two losses came to Wake Forest and BYU at the North Shore Showcase in November.
Individually the Trojans have been paced this season by a pair of 16-point scorers in Peyton Kennedy (16.9 PPG) and Kyla McMakin (16.6), the latter of whom was named Second Team All-Atlantic 10. McMakin leads the A-10 in field goal attempts (608, eighth nationally) and free throws made and attempted (144-181), while Kennedy is tops in the league in field goals made (247) and points scored (658). The duo of Kennedy and McMakin ranks second and third in the conference, respectively, in scoring. Julia Martinez, who was named to the conference's All-Defensive Team, leads the A-10 and is ninth in the NCAA with 6.1 assists per game, while her average of 2.74 steals per game is No. 1 in the league and 20th nationally.
As a team, Saint Louis leads the Atlantic-10 and is 17th nationally with a free throw percentage of 77.7 percent. The team's 14.05 made free throws per game is best in the league.
Minnesota graduate senior Janay Sanders and Saint Louis junior Kennedy Calhoun are both from the Charlotte area in North Carolina. Sanders attended Mallard Creek High School, while Calhoun went to Hickory Ridge; the campuses are about 20 minutes away from one another.
This is the Billikens' sixth trip to the WNIT in program history. Previously, Saint Louis made it as far as the third round, doing so in 2016 and 2021.

BY THE NUMBERS
4 - In four WNIT games, redshirt freshman Niamya Holloway has averaged 6.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor in 17.4 minutes per game.
5 - Maggie Czinano has posted five two-steal performances in her last nine games.
9 - With four assists at Wyoming, Amaya Battle took over sole possession of ninth in assists all-time at Minnesota.
11 - Going along with 12 points, Sophie Hart pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds in Wednesday night's 'Fab 4' win at Troy for her first career double-double.
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

Maggie Czinano

Grace Grocholski

Sophie Hart

Mallory Heyer

Niamya Holloway

Janay Sanders