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Sports
The Associated Press

Battle's career-high 32 points sends Minnesota women past Rutgers 77-69 in Big Ten tourney

B10 Rutgers Minnesota Basketball
Minnesota guard Amaya Battle (3) celebrates after the first quarter of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Rutgers at the Big Ten women's tournament Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Minneapolis.
Abbie Parr | AP

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Amaya Battle scored a career-high 32 points and Minnesota won its first game in the Big Ten Conference Tournament since 2020 with a 77-69 victory over Rutgers in Wednesday night's opening round.

Battle, a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard, shot 10 for 20 from the floor, 11 for 15 from the foul line, distributed seven assists without committing a turnover and grabbed five rebounds. It was Minnesota’s first conference tourney win since the Golden Gophers beat Penn State 85-65 in Indianapolis.

Grace Grocholski added 12 points for the 11th-seeded Golden Gophers (16-14) which advanced to play sixth-seeded Michigan on Thursday night. Minnesota entered the tournament on a four-game losing streak and had dropped 10 of 11 since Jan. 23.

Destiny Adams scored 31 points and grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds for 14th-seed Rutgers (8-24) which beat Minnesota, 81-73, in Piscataway, New Jersey, on Feb. 13.

Erica Lafayette scored 16 points for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights end their season losing their final five contests.

Minnesota led 24-14 after the first quarter, but the Scarlet Knights battled back to reduce their deficit to 39-35 at intermission. Throughout the second half Minnesota appeared ready to put Rutgers away but couldn't pull away.

Adams made two foul shots to give Rutgers a 57-56 lead to start the fourth quarter. Later, Rutgers' Lisa Thompson made a jump shot to tie it at 61-all. But Battle followed with a jumper, Mallory Heyer made a 3-pointer and Minnesota maintained safe distance for the remainder.