The three top teams in the Big Ten won, but all had more trouble than they were expecting.

The Gophers played a tough, physical game before their 14,000 fans at Williams Arena. My mom was watching the game on TV and calling with updates. She said Iowa's Jamie Cavey did a great job on McCarville in the first half, and that kept the game close. But in a flurry of second half scoring, Minnesota was able to pull away.

Whalen had 30. Kadidja Andersson also had one of her best performances of the year.

Penn State almost allowed Wisconsin to come back for a huge upset. The Badgers hit a couple big threes in the last minute, but fell one point short.

Mazzante had an unusually poor shooting night (4-19), but she made a key play at the end. After Wisconsin pulled to within one, Mazzante took the inbound and sprinted up court to avoid the foul. Time ran out before Wisconsin could reach her.

Purdue shot poorly against Illinois, but luckly the Illini weren't any better. The game was tied at half, and Illinois got to within 5 with a few minutes left, but the Boilermakers made their free throws down the stretch to hang on. Wright had 22 and 9.