IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Grace Grocholski scored 21 points, Mara Braun added 16 and Minnesota beat No. 10 Iowa 91-85 on Thursday night for its fifth straight victory.
The Gophers (17-6, 8-4 Big Ten) have the program’s longest winning streak in Big Ten play since the 2018-19 season. The Hawkeyes (18-5, 9-3) lost their third consecutive game since they lost starting guard Taylor McCabe, the team’s leading 3-point shooter, to a season-ending knee injury.
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Minnesota led for almost all of the final three quarters, shooting 51.6% for the game while going 10 of 14 in 3-pointers. The Gophers, whose biggest lead was 77-57 with 7:51 to play, had a 41-28 rebounding advantage.
It was Minnesota’s first road win over a top-10 team since 2005.
Tori McKinney added 15 points for Minnesota. Amaya Battle had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Finau Tonga had 10 points.
Ava Heiden led Iowa with 24 points. Chazadi Wright had 20 points and a career-high 12 assists. Journey Houston had 15 points and Hannah Stuelke added 14.
The Hawkeyes were coming off a West Coast trip in which they went out in a tie for the Big Ten lead and then lost by a combined 35 points to USC and Big Ten leader UCLA. This game wasn’t much better.
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Minnesota led 49-39 at halftime, taking advantage of a 13-3 run to open the second quarter. The Gophers shot 64.3% from the field in the quarter, making all four of their 3-point attempts while their defense shut down the Hawkeyes. Iowa made nine of its 12 shots in the first quarter, but made just 5 of 17 shots in the second quarter, getting outrebounded by the Gophers 13-6 in the quarter.
Iowa had its 11-game winning streak over the Gophers snapped.
Up next
Minnesota: At Rutgers on Sunday.
Iowa: Hosts Washington on Feb. 11.
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