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NCAAW Women's March Madness Amaya Battle and the Minnesota Golden Gophers are headed to the women's Sweet 16 for the first time in 21 years. David Berding / Getty Images Many Minnesota women’s basketball players on this season’s team weren’t born (or at least not walking yet) the last time the Gophers punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 in 2005. But after a fourth-quarter comeback and near buzzer-beater lifted No. 4 seed Minnesota over No. 5 seed Ole Miss, 65-63, it’ll be a moment no one ever forgets. Advertisement Minnesota led through much of the first half after Rebels’ leading scorer Cotie Mc Mahon picked up two early fouls. With Mc Mahon back in the game after sitting a stretch, the advantage shifted in the third quarter, and Ole Miss began to pick up steam. The Rebels regained the lead two and a half minutes into the third quarter and held off every Minnesota push. Not until the 1: 17 mark in the fourth quarter did the Gophers catch up with Ole Miss, behind a step-back 3-pointer from redshirt junior Mara Braun to even the score 61-61. On the subsequent possession, Ole Miss failed to get a shot up as the Gophers forced a shot-clock violation. Minnesota and Ole Miss traded buckets on the next possessions, but with 3. 5 seconds left and the game tied 63-63, the Gophers ran a play to senior guard Amaya Battle, who sank a baseline jumper with 0. 8 seconds remaining for a two-point lead. “I think any basketball player, when you shoot on your own, you’re like, ‘OK, three, two, one, ’ you throw it up there and see what happens, ” Battle said. “It was real life today. ” Leaving a legacy in the Barn ? Amaya Battle on her game winning shot! #March Madness x @Gopher WBB pic. twitter. com/ELu PZz YWbh — NCAA March Madness (@March Madness WBB) March 22, 2026 During Minnesota’s shootaround early Sunday morning, the Gophers ran that exact late-game situational play as a typical part of the team’s gameday activities. Not often does a practice translate so immediately to a game, but in the case of Minnesota, with its first trip to the first Sweet 16 in 20 years on the line, it did. Battle sank that shot — her final of 807 shots during her career on her home court — in front of the rowdiest crowd to descend on the Barn during her career. It all felt rather storybook for the careers of Battle and Braun. The two were the most-prized recruits in the 2022 Minnesota recruiting class, the highest-rated class in program history. It was dubbed as “The Homegrown Class” since all four signed players hailed from the Land of 10, 000 Lakes and were recruited by former coach and Minnesota star Lindsay Whalen, who led the program to its first-ever Final Four in 2004. Advertisement Whalen was fired in 2023, at the end of Battle and Braun’s freshman season, when the program failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth year under the coach. But the duo decided to stay put and continue building the Minnesota women’s basketball program. Each season, the Gophers took steps forward. In 2024, Minnesota finished as the runner-up in the WNIT tournament, and in 2025, it won the WBIT. Returning to the NCAA Tournament was a significant step forward for the program, but being able to host as a top-four seed and to move on to the Sweet 16 feels like a massive leap. “She’s paved the way for us, honestly, ” Braun said about Whalen. “When we came here, we wanted to do what she had done and bring the hype back to Minnesota. I think we’re doing that and a lot of (the credit) does go to her. ” Braun finished with a team-high 17 points while Battle poured in another 14 points, as well as team highs in rebounds (11) and assists (five). Fellow Minnesota native Sophie Hart, who transferred to Minnesota ahead of the 2023-24 season, added 10 points, including a crucial late basket. The last time the Gophers advanced to the Sweet 16 was in 2005, when the program made the regionals three seasons in a row, including during the program’s historic 2004 Final Four run. “It really was surreal, ” Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “To have this group of young ladies come and stay with this and build this into exactly what they wanted to build this into and have that be — for Amaya — her last game in The Barn? … You can’t make this stuff up. That’s movie line stuff. ” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Chantel Jennings is The Athletic's senior writer for the WNBA and women's college basketball. She covered college sports for the past decade at ESPN. com and The Athletic and spent the 2019-20 academic year in residence at the University of Michigan's Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalists. Follow Chantel on Twitter @chanteljennings