<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4afktE_1H06gp3800" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4afktE_1H06gp3800" width="1192" height="1782" >MINNEAPOLIS — The Gophers moved to 3-0 on the season with a 39-point romp over Southern University at the Barn on Tuesday night. Here are five key takeaways from the victory as the team begins preparation for Kansas State, who they’ll face on Saturday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.<ol><li>This team can score in bunches. The Gophers led by 18 after three quarters, but that gap ballooned in a hurry. Minnesota opened the fourth quarter with a 17-0 run, holding the Jaguars scoreless for the first four and a half minutes. And it happened in the blink of an eye. Freshman Natalie Kussow got it started with a three-point play on a drive to the hoop. Mara Braun hit two free throws. Makena Christian drained a 3-pointer. Kussow cut to the basket and finished on a nice feed from Tayla Thomas. Tori Oehrlein scored on an offensive rebound. Kussow hit two more free throws. Then as coach Dawn Plitzuweit began to empty the bench, sophomore post Zoey Bershers swished a 3 from the top of the key and suddenly the Gophers led 77-42.</li><li>Mara Braun was in the middle of everything. The senior guard led all scorers with 19 points, including 3 of 7 shooting from beyond the arc, where she gets a lot of her points. But she also showed versatility in her offensive game, scoring while slashing to the basket, on a catch-and-shoot off an inbounds play, and at the line, where she made all four of her attempts on the night.</li></ol>Two of those came after a scary moment early in the fourth quarter when she was fouled hard from behind by Southern’s Jocelyn Tate on a fast break. Braun had stolen the ball at the top of the key and was going in for a layup when Tate clobbered her across the left shoulder and neck.The foul sent Braun sprawling face-first and she slid off the Barn’s raised floor. After spending about 20 seconds composing herself, she popped back up and was even laughing about the play with her teammates while officials reviewed video and eventually upgraded the foul to a flagrant-2, which ended Tate’s night early.But after the game, Braun proved she’s not one to hold a grudge.“I’m good. It happens,” she said. “It’s a basketball play, kind of.”She even laughed as she recalled her maiden voyage off the edge of the court.“I’ve never been off of the floor before,” she noted, “so now I can say I did that!”Plitzuweit praised Braun for her composure, one of many ways she demonstrates leadership for this young team.“I give Mara a lot of credit, because I thought the way she came back from that really set the tone for her and for her teammates for the rest of the game,” Plitzuweit said. “The officials at that point in time said anybody can shoot the two free throws. I thought she probably earned the right to get those two free throws. And she’s a great free-throw shooter, so you know she knocked ‘em in.”<ol><li>Gracie Merkle can catch anything. The 6-foot-6 senior has helped the Gophers pick up where the graduated Sophie Hart left off, giving them a big target for entry passes and lobs near the basket. And those passes stick to Merkle’s hands like flypaper. On one such pass, she was triple-covered but managed to haul in the ball with relative ease despite being fouled on the play.</li></ol>After confirming that she doesn’t use stickum, Merkle said she thinks catching tough passes is more of a natural skill than one she developed. However, she added that she enjoyed playing catch while growing up and loves to juggle, which she often does to entertain herself (and likely her teammates) while waiting for practice to start.That revelation led to the following exchange:Gopher Hole: What do you like to juggle the most? Basketballs?Merkle: Oh, I can do anything. Anything you give me three of. They have to be the same size, though.GH: Chainsaws?Plitzuweit (eyes bulging in horror, shaking her head): No.Fair enough. That can wait until her playing days are over.<ol><li>Free throws are hard to explain. The Gophers made 18 of 22 free throws in their first two games. But in the first half on Tuesday, they sank just 2 of 8 attempts from the charity stripe.</li></ol>Then everything changed in the second half, when they made their first 12 free throws. They ended up hitting just one of their final seven, but those were all misses by non-rotation players as the top 7 were done for the night by the middle of the fourth quarter.So did the coaching staff happen to mention free-throw shooting at halftime?“We’re a good free throw-shooting team,” Plitzuweit said. “I don’t know what really happened, but sometimes that becomes contagious and you need to break that and move forward. So we did mention [at halftime] that would be ideal.”<ol><li>It was Military Appreciation Night at the Barn, and the Gophers wore a version of their standard home white uniforms with a camouflage pattern decorating their shorts and jerseys. Plitzuweit said to her knowledge they are the only women’s basketball program in the nation to have worn camouflage uniforms.</li></ol></div></body>

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Gophers moved to 3-0 on the season with a 39-point romp over Southern University at the Barn on Tuesday night. Here are five key takeaways from the victory as the team begins preparation for Kansas State, who they’ll face on Saturday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Minnesota 86, Southern 47: Five Takeaways

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Gophers moved to 3-0 on the season with a 39-point romp over Southern University at the Barn on Tuesday night. Here are five key takeaway

Minnesota 86, Southern 47: Five Takeaways

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