INDIANAPOLIS -- When the game seemed to be slipping away for Northwestern, freshman forward Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah grabbed ahold of the lead and refused to let go. With four minutes remaining in the twelfth-seeded Wildcats' second round matchup with No. 5 Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament, head coach Joe McKeown subbed Kunaiyi-Akpanah onto the floor with four fouls. She immediately picked up a missed Northwestern shot and got the offensive board. Two possessions later, Kunaiyi-Akpanah rose from the floor and somehow wrestled the ball away from two Gopher defenders. Then she did it again.
Those three rebounds allowed the Wildcats to hold the ball for over a minute of the game clock, and an Ashley Deary steal on the ensuing Minnesota possession ended up giving Kunaiyi-Akpanah a chance to ice the game at the line.