Gophers women's basketball team, rallying behind Amaya Battle and Mara Braun, dispatches Vermont

The nickname started back in the summer of 2022 for Mara Braun and Amaya Battle. They were part of a homegrown recruiting class that came to play women's basketball for Minnesota. Competitors in high school, they became best friends, roommates, teammates.

And their term: Twinums.

Which brings us to Friday's 74-52 victory over Vermont at Williams Arena, a game in which the Gophers started slowly, finished on a roll. It was, as Braun pointed out afterward, "a good Twinum game.''

Yes it was.

The members of the Gophers' starting backcourt, Battle and Braun, now juniors, each scored 21 points. Each made eight of 14 shots. Battle, whose three-point shooting continues to improve, made three of five, Braun three of six. They combined for nine assists and two turnovers.

Oh, and Braun had a career-high eight steals.

Together they took a Gophers team that was down nine with six-plus minutes left in the first half and pushed it to a 17-point lead entering the fourth.

This was a step up in competition from Central Connecticut, the team Minnesota beat in the opener Monday. Vermont (1-1) reached the WNIT semifinals last season and opened this season with a one-sided win over Missouri, an SEC team. Both their defense and their deliberate offense stymied the Gophers early.

But things got better thanks to two players who have started since Day 1. "They found another way, another gear, another level of toughness,'' Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. "They're learning, growing progressing. I thought tonight's game, from both of them, maybe was the best game they've played.''

There were other contributors, of course. Annika Stewart had her second double-figure game (11 points) to start the season. Others had moments at key times — an offensive put-back by Taylor Woodson when the Gophers struggled to score, Sophie Hart's basket that started a 12-2 run to end the second quarter and give Minnesota a one-point halftime lead, the team defense that held Vermont to 24 points and 39% shooting in the second half.

And a warm moment when Kennedy Klick, who missed last season with a knee injury — who was cleared to play just Friday morning — scored her first college points.

But it all comes back to the Twinums.

From that point with six minutes left in the second quarter through the third, the Gophers outscored Vermont 41-15. Braun and Battle combined to score 25 of those points. In Minnesota's 29-13 third quarter Braun had 10 points and three steals, Battle nine points and four assists.

BOXSCORE: Minnesota 74, Vermont 52

Battle continues to grow as an outside shooter, something she has worked on for years. "I would say the process to get here isn't fun," Battle said. "But once you start seeing results, it's pretty good."

Braun, known for her offense, dominated on the defensive end. Her eight steals are tied for the fourth most by a Gophers player in a game, and the most since Janel McCarville had 10 against Ohio State in March 2004, when Braun was 1 year old.

"I don't remember that," she joked.

Braun said she's trying something new, trying to keep smiling and having fun rather than getting frustrated when things aren't going well. There was a lot to smile about Friday.

"I really wanted the double-double," she said. "I was trying to see where I was at. I got a tip on a few passes. I was like, 'Dang it.' But I guess I have something to work towards."

Braun praised Battle's growth as a shooter, how she scored at all three levels Friday. Battle talked about how it seemed like every other defensive possession ended with a Braun steal. How the team rallied from a slow start.

"It showed our maturity in a way," Braun said. "Not digging ourselves a deeper hole. We stayed calm and composed."