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Serah Williams records double-double, Wisconsin women’s basketball outlasts Minnesota

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Serah Williams records double-double, Wisconsin women’s basketball outlasts Minnesota


MADISON – Wisconsin women’s basketball coach Marisa Moseley didn’t hesitate when she was recently asked if Serah Williams is one of the best post players in the country.

“I said absolutely,” Moseley said. “She continues to show that and I think we’re just scratching the surface of what she is capable of doing.”

The 6-foot-4 sophomore proved her worth again Tuesday night by setting the tone for a 59-56 victory over Minnesota in front of 4,191 at the Kohl Center.

Williams posted her fifth straight double-double and eighth of the season with 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Badgers out of a three-game losing streak. How she accumulated those numbers was impressive.

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She opened the game with six points and eight rebounds in the first quarter with four points and six boards during the first 4½ minutes. Her work provided a much-needed jump start for a team that was coming off a string of disappointing showings in the three previous games.

And in the fourth quarter Williams had a hand in the Badgers’ final 13 points. She had 10 points during that run, including a three-pointer to give UW a 53-52 lead with 3 minutes 29 seconds to play. Her dish to freshman Tessa Grady in the corner for a three-pointer pushed the Badgers’ advantage to 58-54 with 1:48 remaining.

 Williams’ play helped the Badgers (9-9, 2-6) beat the Golden Gophers for the third straight time.

“It feels good to get a win,” Williams said. “Coach tells us all the time to remember this feeling so that we don’t have to remember what losing feels like. We practiced really hard the last couple of days and the energy from the start, from warmups was great, better than our opponent and I think that gave us the momentum and confidence to play.”

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The victory raised UW’s record to 9-9 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten. Here is how the Badgers did it.

Wisconsin’s defense was up to the challenge

After struggling against Iowa last week, the Badgers’ defense had bite Tuesday. It held Minnesota to a 33.8% shooting, the lowest for a Badgers’ Big Ten opponent this season. The Golden Gophers were shooting 40.4% entering play.

Freshman Grace Grocholski, a graduate Kettle Moraine High School, led Minnesota with 13 points. Sophomore Mara Braun, the team’s leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, tied a season low with nine points and missed 10 of 13 shots as Badgers sophomore Sania Copeland spent most of the night hounding her.

Down the stretch, Wisconsin allowed just one basket during the final 3 minutes, a run of six possessions.

Minnesota’s last gasp, was an off-balance three-point attempt by Braun that she took with Copeland in her face with 4 seconds left.

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“When we watched our Iowa film and we talked about how talked about how that ended, we knew we were a better defensive team than that,“ Moseley said. “We knew we were capable of playing better team defense than that, so the challenge was how will we respond. … We had an opportunity to respond tonight and I think they did an excellent job of really answering that bell.”

Tessa Grady’s leads run of key three-pointers

Wisconsin’s 25.9% shooting from three-point range wasn’t off the charts, but the buckets came at key moments.

Grady’s two second quarter threes were a big reason UW led, 26-24, at the half. In the third quarter she hit twice more from long range, pushing the Badgers lead to nine and later a game-high 10 points, 42-32, with 2:22 to go in the quarter.

And in the fourth, Williams’s three from the wing gave the Badgers a one-point edge with 3½ minutes to go. Two possessions later she kicked out to Grady for a corner three that gave the Badgers a four-point advantage with 1:48 left..

“We stepped up and made big threes when we needed to and that is something we’ve continued to talk about …,” Moseley said. “They were incredibly timely and I’m happy they happened when they did.”

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Wisconsin cleaned the glass in the second half

The Badgers allowed nine offensive rebounds in the first half but just three in the second half when they owned a 21-10 edge on the boards overall. The combination of the team’s defense and its ability to end of the stop with a rebound resulted in just four second-chance points for the Gophers in the second half.

Minnesota’s 10 second-chance points for the game were the second lowest allowed by the Badgers in Big Ten play. The lowest (seven) came in UW’s win over Illinois.



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Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6

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Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6



The Wild were taken down by the Utah Mammoth 5-2 on Friday night to end Minnesota’s winning streak at six games. 

Lawson Crouse scored twice and U.S. Olympian Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for Utah.

Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves to help the Mammoth rebound from a 4-2 home loss to NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night in their return from the Olympic break. Utah began the night in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

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U.S. Olympian Matt Boldy scored and assisted on Kirill Kaprizov’s goal for Minnesota. Second behind Central Division-rival Colorado in the West, the Wild are 9-2-1 in their last 12. They beat the Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in Denver.

Cooley opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 6:37 left in the first period. The former University of Minnesota star got the puck on the right side off a deflection and put a shot between Wallstedt’s legs for his 15th goal.

Keller scored his 18th at 4:26 of the second. Nick Schmaltz forced a turnover on a forecheck and fed Keller on the right side.

Crouse made it 3-0 at 7:49 of the second. He came down the middle, took a pass from Keller and beat Wallstedt with a backhander.

Kaprizov countered for Minnesota on a power play with 5:57 left in the second. He has 33 goals this season.

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Hayton made it 4-1 on a power play at 1:19 of the third, and Crouse added his 16th of the season on a tip with 7:12 to go.

Boldy got his 35th of the season with 5:57 remaining.

Up next

Wild: Host St. Louis on Sunday.

Mammoth: Host Chicago on Sunday.

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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota

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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota


Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.

Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.

Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.

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Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.

The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.

The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.

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The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.

The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.

Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters


A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.

The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.

In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.

Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”

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The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.

“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.

All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”

Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.

Don Lemon reporting from an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn.@TheDonLemonShow via YouTube

This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.

The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”

Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.

Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, Cities Church protest arraignment, St. Paul, Minn., February 2026
Nekima Levy Armstrong in St. Paul, Minn., on Feb. 13.Carlos Gonzalez / Star Tribune via Getty Images

In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”

Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.

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