Since early March the story of the Gophers women’s basketball team was:

Momentum is building.

From the start of the Big Ten Conference tournament and through much of the WNIT the Gophers had won five of six games. But all of that went away Saturday at First Community Arena in Edwardsville, Ill.

The Gophers lost to St. Louis 69-50 in the WNIT championship game, held on the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville campus.

The final score likely doesn’t indicate just how completely the Billikens (22-18), who won for the 11th time in 12 games, dominated this game.

Minnesota came out cold and never really warmed up. The Gophers struggled to defend from start to finish, allowed the smaller Billikens open shots on the perimeter, while struggling to find and hit shots on the offensive end.

It was a rather stunning reversal for the Gophers, who never really adjusted to the Billikens’ quickness and ability to share the ball while serving up their worst performance since a loss at Penn State in the regular-season finale.

The Billikens ended the first quarter on a 10-2 run to lead by seven and never looked back. That lead grew to 12 by halftime, by 21 entering the fourth quarter, ultimately, by as many as 28.

A veteran-laden team, the Billikens got 19 points from Peyton Kennedy, 20 from Kyla McMakin and 11 from Kennedy Calhoun.

St. Louis made 11 of 24 threes while forcing 20 Gophers turnovers – Minnesota’s third-highest total of the season and their most since Feb. 8 against Ohio State.

Sophie Hart led the Gophers with 13 points. Mallory Heyer had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Janay Sanders had 12 points.

But the Gophers shot just 33.9%. Amaya Battle, who had averaged 17 points in her first four WNIT games, was held scoreless for the first time this season and for just the third time in her college career.

The Gophers made just four of 23 three-pointers, a 17.4% clip that was the team’s second-lowest this season.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.