Grace Grocholski Scores 25 With 11 Rebounds as No. 17 Minnesota Holds Off Marquette 87-79

Marquette had cut a 14-point deficit to five with 1:42 to play. Then Leah Harmon answered with a 3-pointer, and No. 17 Minnesota closed out an 87-79 win over Marquette on Saturday, Nov. 7, in Milwaukee.

Grace Grocholski was the reason the Gophers had a cushion to protect. Grocholski scored 25 points on 9 of 17 shooting, made 5 of 6 from 3-point range and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Harmon finished with 17 points and four steals, Natalie Kussow and Tori Oehrlein added 12 apiece, and Mara Braun scored 11 as five Gophers reached double figures.

Minnesota is 2-0. Marquette falls to 1-1. Here is the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) and Minnesota's official recap (opens in a new tab).

A fast start, then a fight

Minnesota came out shooting. The Gophers scored the first 12 points of the game, including 3-pointers from Braun and Grocholski, according to the AP, and led 12-0 with 6:43 left in the first quarter, per the school.

Then they cooled off, and Marquette climbed back. The Golden Eagles trailed only 20-19 after one quarter and took their only lead of the day with the first two baskets of the second quarter, the AP reported. Marquette was still in front 26-24 before Minnesota answered with an 8-0 run that started at the 6:01 mark, per the Gophers, for a 32-26 lead.

That run was part of a larger 19-5 burst that put Minnesota ahead 39-29, according to the AP, and it was built on Marquette mistakes. The Golden Eagles turned the ball over 11 times during that stretch, and Minnesota turned those giveaways into 17 points, per the AP. The Gophers won the second quarter 21-14 and led 41-33 at halftime.

Grocholski takes over

Grocholski had 14 points at the break and had not missed from deep, going 4 of 4 from 3-point range in the first half, according to the AP. The second half brought more of the same.

Grocholski capped a 7-0 run late in the third quarter with a basket that made it 60-46 with 2:53 left in the period, according to the school. The Gophers led 66-52 entering the fourth after winning the third quarter 25-19, and the lead stayed in double figures until fewer than three minutes remained, per the AP.

The final line was 25 points, 11 rebounds, six of them offensive, four assists and three steals in 36 minutes. Grocholski missed only one of six 3-point attempts and committed just one turnover.

The rest of the roster shot 7 of 26 from deep, which shows how much of Minnesota's perimeter scoring ran through one player. When Grocholski was not making 3s, the Gophers leaned on second chances and points off turnovers instead of jump shots.

It was the second straight strong game to open the season. In the opener against Harvard on Nov. 2, Grocholski scored 20 points with six rebounds and five assists, according to the school, while Gracie Merkle led the way with 22 and Tayla Thomas added a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double in front of 7,185 fans at The Barn.

Marquette's late push and Harmon's answer

Marquette did not go away quietly. The Golden Eagles won the fourth quarter 27-21, their best quarter of the day by eight points, and MacKenzie Givens scored on a layup with 1:42 left to cut the Minnesota lead to 78-73, according to the AP.

That was as close as it got. Harmon answered with a clutch 3-pointer, as the AP described it, pushing the lead back to eight at 81-73, and the Gophers made all six of their free throws the rest of the way, per the AP.

Harmon's day was a mix of big shots and some sloppiness. Harmon went 6 of 13 from the field, 2 of 7 from deep and 3 of 4 at the line, with four steals, two assists and five turnovers in 29 minutes.

Minnesota hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, scoring nine of its 21 points in the period from beyond the arc, according to the school. The Gophers never trailed in the second half.

How Minnesota won the possession battle

The shooting numbers favored Marquette. The Golden Eagles shot 58.2 percent (32 of 55), better than Minnesota's 43.8 percent (32 of 73), and made 9 of 22 from 3-point range.

The difference was volume. Minnesota took 18 more shots than Marquette because of what happened on the glass and with the ball.

The Gophers won the rebounding battle 40-24 and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, turning them into 21 second-chance points, according to the AP. Marquette had just four offensive rebounds. Minnesota's 21 offensive boards were one more than Marquette's 20 defensive rebounds, and Grocholski and Thomas combined for 10 of them.

Marquette committed 17 turnovers to Minnesota's 11, and the Gophers scored 23 points off them, per the AP. Minnesota had 12 steals and 20 assists, and made 12 of 32 from 3-point range.

Minnesota was not perfect at the line, going 11 of 16, but Marquette attempted only eight free throws all game and made six.

The two teams made the same number of field goals. Minnesota won the game with 12 3-pointers to Marquette's nine, five more made free throws and all those extra possessions.

The supporting cast

Kussow ran the offense well, finishing with 12 points on 4 of 11 shooting and a team-high six assists, though Kussow also picked up four fouls. Braun played 34 minutes and scored 11 on 4 of 12 shooting, including 1 of 7 from deep, with no turnovers.

The Minnesota starters scored 69 of the 87 points, and the bench made a real difference with the other 18. Oehrlein scored 12 in 18 minutes on 4 of 7 shooting, with two 3s and four assists. Merkle, the leading scorer in the opener, made all three shots for six points in 12 minutes. Tayla Thomas scored only four points in 24 minutes but pulled down 10 rebounds, four on the offensive end, and blocked two shots.

Vice carries Marquette, and what's next

Halle Vice was nearly unstoppable for Marquette, scoring 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, with six rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 34 minutes.

Yu Han Lin added 14 points and five assists off the bench, and Kayl Petersen scored 12 with two blocks, taking seven of Marquette's 22 3-point attempts and making two. Givens scored 10 and made all four free throws, Jordan Meulemans went 3 of 4 from 3-point range for nine points, and Amina Traore made all three shots for six points in six minutes. Kinley Asp scored three points with five assists and two steals in 31 minutes.

The Marquette bench outscored Minnesota's 20-18, with Lin doing most of the work. But Vice and Lin combined for seven of Marquette's 17 turnovers, and the Golden Eagles blocked five shots and made only six steals, not enough to match the havoc Minnesota created on the other end.

Marquette's 21 assists on 32 baskets showed how well the ball moved when it stayed in Golden Eagle hands. The problem was how often it did not.

Marquette hosts Presbyterian on Tuesday, according to the AP, with a chance to clean up the ball security that cost it here.

Minnesota, which opened its season with an 82-62 win over Harvard at home on Nov. 2, returned to The Barn on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to face Southern and won 86-47 behind 19 points from Braun. That game is recapped here on Undrafted.

Sources: ESPN, AP, Minnesota Athletics.

Photo: Brad Rempel/Minnesota Athletics (file photo from Nov. 2, Harvard).