Northwestern beats Gophers 65-60 in Big 10 women’s tourney

Veronica Burton had 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Lauryn Satterwhite added 15 points and a late block and No. 7 seed Northwestern beat 10th-seeded Minnesota 65-60 on Thursday night in the second round of the Big Ten Conference tournament.

Northwestern advances to play Caitlin Clark and 12th-ranked Iowa in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Wildcats beat the Big Ten co-champion Hawkeyes 77-69 on Jan. 6 and lost 72-67 in overtime at home on Jan. 28.

Northwestern, ahead 63-58, missed six straight free throws in the final 39 seconds to keep Minnesota in it. The Golden Gophers had two 3-point attempts at the other end, but Kadiatou Sissoko’s shot didn’t hit the rim and Satterwhite blocked the second shot in the corner. Burton sank two free throws to seal it.

Courtney Shaw had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Jillian Brown added 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists for Northwestern (17-11). Burton was just 4-of-15 shooting from the floor, but made all 10 of her free throws.

Shaw and Burton combined for 21 of Northwestern’s 28 first-half points. The Wildcats shot just 32.4% in the first 20 minutes, including 1 of 15 from 3-point range.

Sissoko had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota (14-17), which won the only regular-season meeting with Northwestern after making 10 3-pointers. Sara Scalia also scored 18 points with four 3-pointers.

Deja Winters scored all 10 of her points during a 2-minute, 30-second span in the third quarter to give the Golden Gophers a 48-47 lead. Scalia gave Minnesota a 54-53 lead with 5:13 left, but the Golden Gophers didn’t make their next field goal until the 41-second mark.