MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When Amaya Battle's last-second jump shot swished through the net to give Minnesota the lead in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the largest crowd for the Gophers at Williams Arena in more than two years let out maybe the loudest roar yet.
The atmosphere was raucous all afternoon, as Mara Braun fueled further with her game-tying 3-pointer about a minute earlier against Mississippi. Their decision to stay home — and maintain that commitment — never felt better than on Sunday when they advanced to the Sweet 16.
“It just goes to show if you really want to do something, find people who want to do it with you and stick to it," Battle said. “Shoutout to my teammates, because this is the best year of basketball I have ever played.”
Minnesota (24-8), the No. 4 seed in the region, will play No. 1 seed UCLA (33-1) in Sacramento, California, on Friday night. The Bruins have won 27 straight games, including a 76-58 victory over the Gophers on Jan. 14.
Battle and Braun were the headliners among four recruits then-coach Lindsay Whalen and her staff signed for the 2022-23 season, an all-Minnesota class that was the highest-ranked in program history, pegged the 10th-best nationally by ESPN. Their path to the NCAA regional semifinals, the first such appearance for the program in 21 years, has been anything but smooth.
After the Gophers went 11-19 in that first season for Battle, Braun, Mallory Heyer and Nia Holloway, Whalen was fired. Her successor, Dawn Plitzuweit, persuaded them all to stay. Another Minnesota native, Sophie Hart, transferred from N.C. State to join them.
The Gophers improved under Plitzuweit, but getting over the hump proved to be a challenge in the Big Ten. Braun missed a big chunk of her sophomore year to a foot injury that popped up again last season, limiting her to five games while allowing her to take a medical redshirt year. Heyer opted to transfer to Oregon prior to this season. Holloway, whose freshman year was spent rehabilitating from a torn ACL, was in the rotation in 2023-24 but has not had a meaningful on-court role since.
Earlier this season, the Gophers blew a nine-point lead with less than a minute left in double overtime against Maryland and lost. Braun was struggling to find her shot.
But the group found its stride with a nine-game winning streak highlighted by a win at Iowa and against Ohio State. Braun found her stride down the stretch of the regular season and carried that into the NCAA Tournament, scoring 33 points on 7-for-10 shooting from 3-point range with nine rebounds and three steals in two games.
Whalen, who's now an assistant with the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, was in attendance on Sunday for the atmosphere that rivaled those when she played for the Gophers and led them to their only Final Four appearance in 2004. Whalen has continued to stay connected to those players she once recruited and is also friendly with Plitzuweit.
“We have so much respect for her. She’s still rooting us on every single day. We both get texts from her all the time,” Braun said as she sat next to Battle at the podium for their postgame interview on Sunday. “She paved the way for us, honestly, and 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 it does go to her.”
Braun has another season to look forward to. Battle, who passed Whalen last month for second place on the program’s all-time assists list, does not. But all of the 1,527 points, 768 rebounds and 595 assists she has collected over her four-year career — TCU's Olivia Miles, a second team Associated Press All-American, is the only active player with more in each category — aren't nearly as meaningful as the time she's spent with her team in her home state.
“We've been blessed with a ton of joy. You can see that when we play and practice. I think that's our superpower. That's what gets us through,” Battle said. “They're really my best friends."
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
Minnesota guard Amaya Battle, right, works around Mississippi guard Sira Thienou (0) during the second half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A former upstate New York prison guard on trial in the death of an inmate repeatedly stomped on the man's head during a brutal beating by a group of guards, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.
Jonah Levi, who has been charged with murder, was the first guard to go on trial after 10 were indicted last April in connection with death of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility on March 1, 2025 — a time when the state prison system was reeling from a wildcat strike.
Prosecutors said Nantwi, 22, suffered 69 separate body blows from guards who used their fists, boots and batons in a series of beatings. A witness testified Tuesday that Nantwi was bloodied and making noises in distress after being pummeled in his room.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told jurors in his opening statement that investigators collected DNA evidence from boots taken from Levi and a second guard facing a top charge of second-degree murder.
“With utter depravity and recklessness, you will hear eyewitness testimony that Jonah Levi multiple times stomped Messiah Nantwi on the head. And pathetically, his brother officers did nothing,” said Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor.
Nantwi died due to massive head trauma and other injuries to his body from the beatings, according to prosecutors.
Levi's attorney, Lewis G. Spicer, told the jury that the use of force that morning was justified given Nantwi's aggressive behavior. He said Levi did not use any force that resulted in Nantwi's death.
“Mr. Levi was doing everything he was supposed to do,” Spicer said.
Nantwi's death came several months after Robert Brooks was fatally beaten at a separate prison just across the road from Mid-State. Prisoner advocates say the two beatings illustrated a culture of violence by guards at New York prisons.
His death also came as New York prisons were struggling to function during a three-week wildcat strike by guards upset over working conditions, which forced the governor to send in National Guard troops.
Levi was part of an emergency response team called to Nantwi’s room to help National Guard members who sought backup after Nantwi was uncooperative with a bedside prisoner headcount.
Nicholas Mouzon, a National Guard member working that day, testified that Nantwi would not leave a shower area to be counted, repeatedly saying, “What if I don't want to?” But Nantwi instantly calmed down once backup was called for, he said.
Several corrections officers who responded to the call began beating Nantwi in his room after he refused to be handcuffed and grabbed a guard’s vest, authorities said. The beatings intensified after Nantwi bit a guard's hand, prosecutors claim.
“He’s dead because he protested cuffing up and because he tried to bite someone's finger,” Fitzpatrick said.
Mouzon said he had a limited view from outside the room, but saw a guard standing on Nantwi's calves and striking his feet with a baton. He later saw Nantwi being carried out.
“His eyes were closed. He was making — best way I can describe it — aggravated dog noises. He was growling,” Mouzon said.
Prosecutors say guards falsely claimed a makeshift knife had been recovered as part of a cover-up effort.
Lewis told the jury that prosecutors offered an “extremely sanitized” version of events. Nantwi, who was high on synthetic marijuana, was the initial aggressor, Spicer said.
“You're going to hear him fighting back,” Spicer said.
While Brooks’ beating months earlier was captured on body cameras, video footage will likely play less of a role in this trial. Prosecutors say some guards involved in Nantwi’s death were not wearing mandated body cameras, or turned them off, or looked the other way.
Besides murder, Levi also has been charged with first-degree manslaughter, first-degree gang assault, second-degree gang assault, fifth-degree conspiracy and first-degree offering a false instrument for file.
Levi is first guard to face a jury in the case. More than half a dozen others have pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to the incident and the alleged cover-up.
Nantwi entered the state prison system in May 2024 and had been serving a five-year sentence for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon related to an exchange of gunfire with police officers in 2021. He was shot multiple times, while the officers were uninjured.
Prosecutors in Manhattan say Nantwi shot and killed Jaylen Duncan, 19, on a Harlem street in April 2023. The following evening, they say, he shot and killed Brandon Brunson, 36, at a Harlem smoke shop after an argument.
FILE - The Mid-State Correctional Facility is seen on April 16, 2025, in Marcy, N.Y. (AP Photo/Michael Hill, File)
