Rachel Banham made a three-pointer as time expired to give Minnesota a 78-76 win over Iowa Monday.

The Golden Gophers (18-7, 10-4 Big Ten) fought back from a 13-point deficit to beat the Hawkeyes (15-11, 5-9 Big Ten). Jessie Edwards scored two important baskets for the Gophers in the final 30 seconds, and nine rebounds on the game.

Banham scored 35 points and passed Ohio State’s Jantel Lavender for second place on the Big Ten’s all-time career scoring list. She has 2,840 total. Banham also had nine rebounds and seven assists.

Minnesota set a new program season record for three-pointers, bringing its total to 224 with 10 on Monday night. The Gophers shot 55.6 percent in the second half including 8-11 (.727) from three-point range.

Carlie Wagner added 17 points for Minnesota. Chase Coley led the Hawkeyes with 21 points. Ally Disterhoft had 20.

 

How it happened

Mikayla Bailey opened the Gophers’ scoring with a triple that broke the team record. That three-pointer gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead, its only lead in the opening frame. The Hawkeyes were ahead 19-11 at one point, and led 21-15 at the end of the quarter. Banham had eight points in the first, and Disterhoft had nine for Iowa.

The Hawkeyes went on a 6-0 run to open the quarter and build a 27-15 lead before a Banham three-pointer snapped the Gophers’ drought. Iowa led 29-20 at the media timeout before drives by Banham and Wagner and a fastbreak layup by Bailey off a Wagner steal trimmed it to 29-26 and resulted in an Iowa timeout. Iowa pushed its advantage back to 38-28 at halftime. The Hawkeyes had 12 second-chance points in the first half.

Iowa led by as much as 13. Banham made a three-pointer after a Jessie Edwards block to cap a 7-0 Minnesota run and get within 45-39. The Hawkeyes went back up by eight before Joanna Hedstrom made a three-pointer and Wagner scored to make it 50-46. After Edwards took a charge, Mullaney made a triple on the Gophers’ ensuing possession to get the Gophers the closest they had been since the first. Iowa and Wagner traded a few baskets, and Minnesota trailed 58-54 heading to the final quarter. The Gophers shot 57.9 percent in the third quarter.

Banham hit a 3-pointer with eight minutes left to put Minnesota up 62-60, its first lead since 3-2. After Iowa reclaimed the lead, Shayne Mullaney tied it up at 64 with the Gophers’ first two free throws of the game at the 5:41 mark. The Maroon and Gold led by five before Iowa went on a 6-0 run to make it 70-69 in the Hawkeyes’ favor.

The teams continued to trade the lead. Banham made a jumper with 1:19 to go for a one-point Gophers edge. Coley scored off an inbounds play for Iowa with under a minute left. Edwards recovered a blocked shot, pivoted and scored off the glass with 24.5 seconds. Tania Davis was fouled with 18.9 seconds and made both free throws. Edwards then scored through contact with 17 seconds left. She missed the free throw from the foul, and Iowa rebounded and called timeout.

Disterhoft scored out of the timeout to put Iowa up 76-75 with eight seconds left. Without a timeout, the Gophers brought the ball up the floor. Banham got it, dribbled to her left and launched the game-winning triple.

 

More notes

Banham also moved into 19th place on the NCAA’s all-time scoring list. In addition to Lavender, she passed Andrea Riley of Oklahoma State.

Banham has three 30-point games in a row: 60 at Northwestern, 32 against Nebraska and 35 against Iowa.

Banham also provided the Gophers’ previous most recent buzzer-beater at Ohio State in February 2013.

The game featured 13 lead changes.

 

Up next

The Gophers will travel to Indiana for a 6 p.m. game Thursday against the Hoosiers. After another road game at Michigan State on Sunday, Minnesota returns home for senior night. Banham, Shayne Mullaney and Mikayla Bailey’s home finale will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 against Ohio State.