After losing by 56 points in the final game of the regular season, every single player on the Gophers women’s basketball team entered the Big Ten Tournament with something to prove.

To themselves more than anything else.

Either they were going let that embarrassment carry over or they were going to show some pride and fight back.

The scrappy sophomore guard Amaya Battle chose the latter. She scored a career-high 32 points on Wednesday night at the Target Center to lead No. 11 seed Minnesota to 77-69 win over No. 14 seed Rutgers. As a result, the Gophers will play No. 6 seed Michigan on Thursday night at the Target Center.

That incredible effort from Battle helped spoil a special performance form Rutgers forward Destiny Adams. She recorded 31 points and 24 rebounds, proving to be unguardable down low.

It was clear from the onset that Battle was out for blood. She nailed a pull up jumper to get herself, scoring scored from every level  en route to 14 points in the first quarter. She capped the offensive explosion with a shot form beyond the arc that beat the buzzer.

It looked like the Gophers might runaway with the game early in the second quarter as they stretched their lead to 12 points  That’s when the Scarlett Knights got hot from beyond the arc, chipping away at the deficit with Battle on the bench to make things close again.

It was back and forth in the third quarter with Adams imposing her will inside until Gophers head coach Dawn Plitzuweit opted inserted sophomore forward Nia Holloway into the game for her defense. Though she couldn’t stop Adams from scoring, Holloway seemed to at least bother her.

As the game wound to a close int he fourth quarter, Battle took over once, nailing a clutch jumper before hitting some free throws to put the finishing touches a game she won’t soon forget.

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