Heyer’s double-double leads U women’s basketball in blowout over Presbyterian

The Gophers women's basketball team came back from a loss at North Dakota State with some things to work on:

A short list: Ball movement, rebounding, defending, especially in transition.

Against an over-matched Presbyterian team Sunday at Williams Arena, the Gophers got much of that done in an 82-48 victory.

After being out-rebounded by North Dakota State, the Gopher had a 55-38 edge Sunday. After getting just 11 assists in Thursday's loss, the Gophers had 21 assists on 34 made baskets.

Defending? Presbyterian was held under 30 percent.

Freshman forward Mallory Heyer had her first career double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. She also had four assists. Sophomore center Rose Micheaux had 13 points and 11 rebounds, her third double-double in four games.

Freshman guard Mara Braun, who missed the North Dakota State game with an injured left foot, came off the bench Sunday, scoring nine points in 19 minutes. Amaya Battle also had nine points.

The Gophers scored the first 20 points of the game as Presbyterian missed its first 15 shots.

But from that point until there was 6:11 left in the third quarter, Minnesota (3-1) was out-scored 32-24 by Presbyterian (2-3), which pulled within 44-32 on Sonia Sato's turn-around.

But the Gophers, getting four points each from Heyer, Destinee Oberg, Braun and Battle, finished the quarter 16-5 to take a 60-37 lead into the fourth.

The Gophers scored 24 points off turnovers and had a 22-9 edge on second-chance points.

Maya Neira led Presbyterian with 17 points.