Minnesota did a lot of good work early in Sunday’s Women’s second-round Basketball Invitation game at Missouri State — and the Gophers needed every bit of it to escape with a victory.

Annika Stewart and Grace Grocholski each scored 18 points, and Stewart made a pair of free throws with 7 seconds left to secure Minnesota’s 78-71 victory at the Bears’ Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Mo.

The second-seeded Gophers (22-11) advanced to the quarterfinals and will play host to No. 4 seed Gonzaga (24-10) on Thursday at Williams Arena. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

The winner will advance to the WBIT Final Four at Hinkle Fieldhouse March 31-April 2 in Indianapolis. Gonzaga beat top seed Colorado, 64-55, on Sunday.

Minnesota sophomore Grace Grocholski drives past Missouri State’s Kaemyn Bekemeier during the first half of the Gophers’ 78-71 win Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Springfield, Mo. Grocholski finished with 18 points and eight rebounds for Minnesota. (Meghan Bielich / Gophers Athletics)

Amaya Battle finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Gophers, and teammate Mallory Heyer had eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

As the high seed, the Gophers were supposed to be the host team but had to play their first two games on the road because the boys basketball tournament was booked for Williams Arena.

“Missouri State has been a staple in women’s basketball, and won in the postseason for many, many years,” coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “So, to some out of here with a win, I’m really excited about that. It speaks volumes of our young ladies, the resilience, the toughness they showed to come out on top. We don’t take that lightly.”

Stewart made four of her five 3-point attempts, three in the first half as the Gophers rolled to first-half leads of as many as 17 points over a Bears (26-9) team that had scored 107 points on Oral Roberts in their first-round victory. Minnesota took double-digit leads into the second quarter, intermission and third quarter.

“We knew that they had the homecourt advantage, so we knew they were going to come out hot,” Stewart said. “We told each other, ‘Let’s get rolling. We have something to prove here.’ And we were just excited that we had another chance to play.”

Missouri State roared back in the fourth quarter behind sophomores Kaemyn Bekemeier and Kyrah Daniels, and senior point guard Lacy Stokes.

Bekemeier’s bank shot with 6:30 left in regulation cut the Gophers’ lead to 68-61, and Plitzuweit used her first timeout of the game in an attempt to settle her team. The Bears had cut their deficit to nine points several times, but to seven just twice until Linthacum’s free throw made it 70-64 with 2:46 left.

Minnesota made 10 of 21 3-point attempts on Sunday, one reason they were able to keep the Bears at arm’s length for most of the game. The last was by Stewart, which gave the Gophers a 73-64 lead with 2:22 seconds left in regulation.

But Missouri State kept coming, and the Gophers got some bad looks on a few late possessions that helped the Bears. With the clock under a minute, Kyrah Daniels blocked a shot in the lane from Minnesota freshman Tori McKinney, corralled the ball and high-tailed it upcourt for a pull-up 3-pointer that pulled the Bears within 73-70 with 28.8 remaining.

But the Gophers won it at the free throw line, with Mallory Heyer, Alexia Rose and Stewart combining to make 5 of 6 in the final half minute to seal the victory.

Bekemeier scored a team-high 18 points, and Daniels had 15 for the Bears, who were outrebounded 43-27.

Minnesota led by 15 after one quarter, and at that point was outrebounding the Bears 15-2. Ultimately, the fast start made up for a lot of sins late. In their first-round victory, Missouri State led Oral Roberts 29-11 after one quarter.

“We knew it was important, and from watching their game against Oral Roberts, we had a tremendous amount of respect for how quickly Missouri State can start in games,” Plitzuweit said. “We knew it was going to be important, to not just match that kind of intensity, but maybe exceed it if we could.”

Related Articles

WBIT: Gophers hold off Toledo to advance to second round

Women’s basketball: High school tournament puts crimp in Gophers’ WBIT plans

Women’s basketball: Left out of NCAA, Gophers snapped up by WBIT

Gophers knocked out of Big Ten tournament, now await NCAA tournament fate

Women’s basketball: Though Mara Braun won’t be back this spring, her season has not been wasted