Mara Braun Scores 19 and Gracie Merkle Goes 6 for 7 as No. 18 Minnesota Routs Southern 86-47

MINNEAPOLIS. Southern scored the first basket of the night. It was the last time the Jaguars had anything to celebrate on the scoreboard. Minnesota answered with an 8-0 burst, never trailed again, and buried Southern 86-47 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at The Barn on military appreciation night.

Mara Braun led everybody with 19 points and four steals. Gracie Merkle came off the bench and scored 12 on 6 of 7 shooting in 15 minutes, while Grace Grocholski and freshman Natalie Kussow added 11 apiece. The No. 18 Gophers moved to 3-0 in front of 3,646 fans. Southern, the defending SWAC tournament champion, fell to 0-3.

Here is the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) and Minnesota's official recap (opens in a new tab).

A fast start in the paint

Zaria Hurston opened the scoring for Southern with a floater. Minnesota took it from there. Tayla Thomas finished a layup off a Grocholski feed, Kussow found Braun for a 3 from the wing, and Braun capped the 8-0 run with that triple. The Gophers led 16-6 after one quarter, and Southern shot 18 percent in the period, according to the AP.

The second quarter belonged to Minnesota's size. The Gophers scored 16 of their 24 second-quarter points in the paint, and a 6-0 run late in the half, highlighted by another Braun bucket, made it 37-19. Southern trimmed a couple of points off the margin before the break, and Minnesota went to the locker room up 40-24, but the pattern was set. Minnesota finished with a 50-14 edge in paint points, the kind of number that tells you the guards were getting into the lane and the bigs were finishing whatever came their way.

Southern hangs around, then the floor drops out

To its credit, Southern did not fold after halftime. Minnesota opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run, punctuated by a Thomas basket, for a 46-24 lead. The Jaguars then traded baskets for most of the period, and they actually played the Gophers to a near standstill, losing the quarter only 20-18. Taelar Felton kept attacking and living at the free throw line, going 6 of 9 there on the night, and Jestiny Dixon gave Southern a second steady scorer off the bench. Both finished with 10 points.

The fourth quarter was a different story. Minnesota scored the first 17 points of the period, a run that ended with Zoey Bershers hitting a 3 to make it 77-42 with 6:36 to play. The AP counted it as a 22-2 run to open the quarter, and Kussow scored seven points in it. Southern managed five points in the entire quarter, and the Gophers' lead peaked at 39 on the final horn.

Braun, Merkle and the second unit

Braun was efficient in 24 minutes, going 6 of 13 from the field, 3 of 7 from deep and a perfect 4 of 4 at the line. The four steals were just as important on a night when Southern never found any rhythm against the Minnesota pressure. Braun did all of it without needing heavy minutes, which is the best possible outcome in a game like this.

Merkle's night was the most encouraging for Minnesota's long run. Merkle, who sits on the 20-player watch list for the 2027 Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award, made six of seven shots in only 15 minutes and added two steals. When Merkle is getting deep post touches and finishing, Minnesota's offense looks a lot less dependent on the 3.

That second unit was the theme of the night. Minnesota's bench scored 32 points, and 12 of the 13 Gophers who played scored. Nobody logged more than 25 minutes. Kennedy Klick did not score but handed out three assists in 19 minutes. Makena Christian and Bershers each went 2 for 2 with a 3. Adit Kuol, Kylee Paben and Brynn Senden all got on the board. Head coach Dawn Plitzuweit was able to empty the bench and still watch the lead grow, which is exactly what a November home game against a SWAC opponent should look like.

The freshmen keep producing

Kussow is the name to remember from this first week. The freshman started again, played a team-high 25 minutes and finished with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Kussow had six assists against Marquette, and on Tuesday Kussow set up Braun's first 3 of the night before taking over as a scorer during the fourth-quarter run.

Fellow freshman Tori Oehrlein added five points and two assists in 17 minutes off the bench after scoring 12 at Marquette. Having two first-year players this comfortable in the first week of the season matters more than any single box score line.

Thomas, meanwhile, keeps doing the dirty work. Thomas led the team with seven rebounds and blocked two shots after posting 10 rebounds in each of the first two games. Grocholski did not need to carry the scoring this time, after putting up 20 points against Harvard and 25 points and 11 rebounds at Marquette, but still chipped in 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The numbers that decided it

The rebounding was not close. Minnesota won the glass 42-24, grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and turned them into 22 second-chance points, per the school. Every miss looked like a second possession for the Gophers.

Turnovers told the rest of it. Southern gave the ball away 27 times, and Minnesota turned those mistakes into 25 points. The Gophers shot 55.2 percent from the field and handed out 20 assists on 32 made baskets, while Southern shot 31.9 percent and was 3 of 14 from 3. Minnesota also blocked five shots. Southern did not block any.

If Plitzuweit wants something to clean up, it is right there in the box score. Minnesota made only 16 of 29 free throws and committed 19 turnovers of its own. Those mistakes did not matter against Southern. They will matter against Big Ten opponents in a few weeks.

For Southern, Felton and Dixon were the lone double-figure scorers. Hurston added seven points and three steals but also turned it over five times. Preseason SWAC Defensive Player of the Year Jocelyn Tate had two points, four rebounds and three assists, and All-SWAC preseason first teamer DeMya Porter was held to two points on 1 of 6 shooting.

What it means for both teams

This was the third straight Power Four road game for Southern, which already played at Oklahoma State and at Illinois. Carlos Funchess, now in a ninth season as head coach, has built a program that has won the SWAC tournament the last two years, and a nonconference schedule this tough is a lot to ask of any team in the first two weeks. The Jaguars come home to host Louisiana Christian on Friday.

Minnesota is now 4-0 all time against Southern. The last meeting, back on Nov. 25, 2014, at The Barn, ended 107-62 in the Gophers' favor.

The bigger picture for Minnesota is the poll. The Gophers started the season at No. 17, beat Harvard 82-62 at home and won 87-79 at Marquette, yet slid one spot to No. 18 in the Nov. 9 AP poll. The Big Ten now has 10 ranked teams, led by a Michigan program that climbed to No. 2 after its win over UConn. In a league that crowded, every nonconference win counts toward seeding conversations in March.

Plitzuweit is in a fourth season at Minnesota, and last year's Sweet 16 run was the program's best in more than 20 years. The early returns suggest this group can stay in that conversation. It shares the ball, it defends, and it is getting production from players who were not part of last year's run.

The schedule stiffens quickly. Minnesota hosts Kansas State on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m., then sees Kansas on Nov. 18 and Central Michigan on Nov. 22. Kansas State will be the first real measuring stick since the trip to Marquette, and a better test of whether the turnover and free throw issues are a blip or a trend.

For one night, though, Minnesota did everything a ranked team should do against an overmatched opponent. It started fast, it pounded the paint, it rebounded everything, and it gave 13 players meaningful minutes. Follow every Gophers story on our Minnesota team page.

Sources: ESPN box score, Minnesota Athletics (game recap and game notes) and the Associated Press via Yahoo Sports.

Photo: Ceci De Young/Minnesota Athletics.