The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team kicks off the 2026-27 season on Monday evening when they host the Harvard Crimson at 5 PM at The Barn. It will end one of the most anticipated off-seasons in some time as the Gophers have prepared to try and return to the NCAA Sweet 16 for back to back seasons for the first time since a three year stretch ending with the 2004-05 season. But it has not been all getting better with new transfers and freshmen. The Gophers will need to overcome a season ending injury
to one of their star players just weeks before the season. It’s a huge blow to the potential of this team, but one they may be able to blunt by having one of the deepest rosters they have had in some time? We take a look at who is gone, who is back and who is new before a full season overlook.
Who is Gone?
Minnesota lost six players from last year’s team that earned the #3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and a #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament advancing to the Sweet 16. They lost just over 50% of their scoring from a season ago including their fourth through seventh leading scorers. So there are plenty of holes to fill on this roster.
The biggest loss for the Gophers was guard Amaya Battle who is now playing in Europe. Battle was named to the All-Big Ten Thirds Team and ended her Gopher career with 1,533 points, 776 rebounds, and 599 assists. She stands 10th all-time in Gophers’ scoring, 10th in career rebounds, second in assists, and second overall in career starts and consecutive starts. That’s a huge loss for this team, but one they had tried to account for with the influx of talent coming in this fall.
Center Sophie Hart was the leader in the paint for Minnesota. The NC State transfer made the most of her three seasons as a Gopher. She ended her Minnesota career with a career field goal percentage of 54.5% (445/816), ranking third all-time in Minnesota program history.
Fellow post Finau Tonga found a role for herself in her lone season coming off of the Gophers bench after transferring from San Jose State. Set the second-highest single-season field goal percentage in program history, shooting .630 (65/103) and scored 10 or more points in five games last season.
Guard Brylee Glen came in from Kansas State for one final season for the Gophers and found a role as a defensive stopper and bench offensive option. She scored 6.5 points per game and averaged 22.5 minutes per game off of the Gopher bench.
Minnesota also lost a pair of transfers who saw limited action a season ago. Tracey Berschers came in for one season out of UAB and played in just the first two games of the season before an injury kept her out of the remaining games. She earned an injury redshirt and is now playing her final year of eligibility at Kennesaw State.
Niamya Holloway played three seasons for the Gophers after missing her freshman season with a knee injury. One of the MN four recruited by Lindsay Whalen along with Mallery Heyer, Amaya Battle and Mara Braun, Holloway saw her playing time decrease playing in a career low 27 games for the Gophers as a redshirt junior last season. She is now at Creighton for her final year of eligibility.
Who is Back?
The Gophers return eight players from last season’s roster, but of those eight, only five averaged more than 10 minutes per game a season ago, and two are dealing with injuries that will limit or in one case erase their minutes for this season. The main returners will need to pick up even more slack, and some of the players who had more limited roles will be needed to step up significantly.
The biggest blow to the Gophers came in October when it was announced that guard Tori McKinney had suffered a leg injury and will miss the entire 2026-27 season. McKinney was the best defender on the Gophers roster and had really improved her offensive game over the last year as well. She led the Gophers with 12.7 points per game a season ago and earned All-Big Ten Second Team and All-Big Ten Defensive Team honors. This summer she played with the US U23 3×3 national team and was named MVP of the World Cup helping lead the US team to a gold medal. Expectations were sky high, and now the Gophers will not have her at all. It’s a huge blow to this team, but again with the loss of Battle, as we will talk about later, the hope is that the Gophers have added enough depth in the offseason to plug a lot of these holes. But until they actually see action, its tough to now for sure.
One player we know what we will be getting from is Gopher 5th year senior Mara Braun. Braun played a full season last year after missing the end of the 2023-24 and most of the 24-25 season with foot injuries. She returned to play all 33 games and average 11.7 points per game. Her three point shooting was near her pre-injury percentage, but the Gophers know they would love her to increase that just a bit of possible. As a whole she had her best shooting percentage of her career a season ago coming in at just under 40 percent, but also had her lowest points per game average of her career. A more efficient scorer is good as long as the Gophers can keep getting points from elsewhere. But make no doubt, Braun will start and play a large role on this team.
Grace Grocholski returns for her fourth season as a Gopher and will try to find an even higher level of consistency. The Gopher sharp shooter was one of the best three point shooters in the nation in the first half of the season a year ago before her numbers leveled off late into Big Ten action. She still earned All-Big Ten Second Team after being second on the Gophers in scoring at 12.1 points per game and a 1.97 assist/turnover ratio—the fourth best in Gopher program history. She finished the year shooting 42.4% from beyond the arc—down from the nearly 50% clip earlier in the season but still good enough for the 7th best single season percentage in program history. She currently ranks 5th all-time in program history with 221 three-pointers made and should easily end up in the top three by the time the season has concluded. She will be needed to be a dangerous scorer for this team to succeed once again.
Two returning players who Dawn Plitzuweit has specifically called out by name as players who both need to and are expected to step up into larger roles this season with the loss of McKinney are senior guard Kennedy Klick and sophomore forward Makena Christian. Klick seems finally healthy after missing the 2023-24 season with a knee injury. He played in limited action the past two seasons but often with a large bulky knee brace on. She will now be in competition with some of the new faces in the locker room to pick up the 30 minutes a game that are available after McKinney went down. She saw more time late in the season including in all three NCAA Tournament games as Plitzuweit trusted her to play solid defense off of the bench. That may be her path to more time this season as well.
Christian took time to pick up he intricacies of Dawn’s defensive system and that limited her at times a season ago. She still averaged nearly 11 minute sper game off the bench because she was an offensive threat. She scored a career high 23 points in the season opening win over North Dakota last year before seeing her role consolidate in the Big Ten season. But with a strong off-season she appears ready to snag a much larger role this season and also take some of the minutes vacated by McKinney.
The Gophers will return one wild card and that’s senior forward Taylor Woodson. Woodson has now missed large chunks of the past two seasons after ACL injuries. Prior to the injuries she was one of the first Gophers off the bench and averaged nearly 18 minutes in 12 games in 2024-25 and played in just two games a season ago before another knee injury. She will be slowly brought back this season and will likely not be ready to contribute as the season kicks off this week, but is definitely someone who the Gophers could use off of the bench later in the year if she can refind her game.
The final two Gopher returners did not play much if any of a role last season. Senior guard Brynn Senden is the best teammate you could ask for, but she is usually player 15 out of 15 on the roster. She saw action in 15 games a season ago generally in mop up duty.
Sophmore Zoey Bershers returns for her second season after playing in just 12 games a season ago. She missed a large chunk of the non-conference season with a leg injury and then was generally buried on the bench. She is a stretch big—can hit a shot from out side but also may be needed as a reserve backup for the Gophers if their planned starters get into foul trouble.
Who is New?
Minnesota brings in a highly touted group of three transfers and four freshmen who will need to make an immediate impact. All-three transfers will likely start or be one of the first players off of the bench, and at least two if not three of the Gopher freshmen are expected to play large roles on this roster and develop to lead this team in the near future.
The biggest both literally and figuratively transfer the Gophers brough in is 6’6 center Gracie Merkle from Penn State. As a senior for the Nittany Lions a season ago she averaged 19.2 points, just over eight rebounds and over a block per game. She led the Big Ten with a 72.5% field goal percentage. The Gophers brough her in to be the center of their post offense—something she has excelled at in her career making shots at a 70% clip for her career. One area where she struggles is at the free throw line where she is only a career 61% shooter. She is both similar and different in the way she plays to Sophie Hart. But there is no doubt Minnesota wants to try and run and inside-out offensive game with her the same way they did with hart. Led Merkle score as she can—and find the open player on the permitter to hit the open three when she gets doubled.
Minnesota brough in another larger body in forward Tayla Thomas from Northwestern. The 6’3 junior averaged 9.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game last year for the Wildcats. Thomas is expected to bounce from both the four and the five for the Gophers. You can see her backing up Merkle in a bit of a time share the way Finau came in for Hart a season ago, but also the Gophers may want to play them at the same time giving them a distinct height advantage against some opponents to create mismatches. She made a massive leap from her freshman to sophomore seasons as Northwestern seeing her field goal percentage jump nearly 10%. She also struggles some from the free throw line, so its something the Gophers will need to play around in late game situations.
Minnesota’s third transfer is guard Leah Harmon from Central Florida. She started the first 20 games of the season for the Knights last year before suffering a season ending injury and was averaging 15.7 points per game when she went down. She is a three-point threat for the Gophers and shot 38% before her injury a season ago. She has the potential to step into the point guard role left open by Battle, but also has sown to be turnover prone recording over 3 per game last season. It will be interesting to see her role evolve over the season ad Plitzuweit sees how she wants to use all her personnel.
Minnesota’s four freshmen all come in with lots of potential. Two of the Four were the best high school player in their state in 2025-26. One is the second leading scorer all-time in Minnesota high school girls basketball. And the fourth has tons of athletic potential, but is new to the game and incredebly raw and will need some time to be molded.
The class is highlighted by Wisconsin Player of the Year Natalie Kussow. The Hartland, WI native led her team to the large school state championship in Wisconsin last season and was named the Gatorade State Player of the Year in both 2025 and 2026. She was ranked the #23 recruit nationally by 247Sports and #40 by ESPN HoopGurlz. Kussow finished her senior season averaging 26.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. She has been called out by name by Plitzuweit this off-season and could see herself play a large role if she can contribute on the defensive end as well. She has the on ball and off-ball skills to play at this level and could be one player who sees aa significant increase in playing time due to the McKinney injury—ironic since McKinney herself saw a large increase in her playing time after Braun went down in 2024.
Crosby native Tori Oehrlein comes in as the second highest scorer in MN girls basketball history with 5,485 career points. The #38 national recruit by 247Sports and #58 by ESPN HoopGurlz will look to play early as a guard option off of the bench. The hopeful point guard of the future for Minnesota can also make plays both on and off ball and the sky is the limit as long as she can meet the defensive requirements needed by Coach P.
Omaha, Nebraska native Kylee Pabin was the Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year in 2026 and looks to earn playing time for the Gophers. Pabin has a game similar to former gopher Mallory Heyer where she can be a sold defender and rebounder at the three or four spot if Minnesota goes small, but can also produce on offense. She is less likely to break through for a significant role this season but should give good minutes off the bench where needed.
The fourth freshman is Adit Kuol from The King’s Academy in Tennessee. The 6’3 forward is originally from South Soudan, and then moved to Uganda as a child. Kuol has only been playing basketball for five years, but has been on a rocket development wise. She still is very raw as a Big Ten caliber player, but has exceptional athleticism, so once she gets coached up cold play a large role in the future for the Gophers. For this season don’t expect much but some mop up duty—consider it a redshirt season if they still existed and hope for her to have a larger impact in 2027
So What Is the Prospectus Like?
The Gophers are still highly thought of nationally after their breakthrough a season ago. Minnesota was ranked #17 in the preseason AP poll and #18 in the preseason Coaches Poll. Those rankings were also given pre the McKinney injury which will loom large over the team this season. Before the injury the Gophers had to replace over 50% of their scoring a season ago—now its more like 65%. But Minnesota added three very talented transfers who all can put the ball in the hoop. Add that to a group of freshmen who may be as talented and anticipated as the Minnesota Four Group and the expectations are still quite high.
The other thing this team will be is young. Only Braun and Merkle will be out of eligibility after this season for the Gophers. Everyone else can return. So if the Gophers can find themselves forming a cohesive unit, this season may just be a stepping stone to an even brighter future. But it will not be easy. The Big Ten is insanely tough. While the Gophers were ranked #17 in the AP poll, there were FIVE other Big Ten teams ranked ahead of them and two more directly behind them. One or two games in the Big Ten can make the difference between a fourth place finish and a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament and a 11th place finish and needing to play on Day One. That’s how deep this conference is.
The non-conference schedule gets turned up a notch in competitiveness as well. Minnesota opens play against Harvard who has won 20+ games three of the last four years and has been on the NCAA Tournament bubble the last two. They have a true road game next at Marquette, who while having a down season a year ago is still a Big East opponent. Minnesota has a tough neutral site game in Sioux Falls against Kansas State and will face two other quality opponents in Missouri State and Cincinnati in Cancun over Thanksgiving. And then there is the Big Ten schedule. Wisconsin is the lone team the Gophers will play twice, but a large chunk of their toughest games this season will come on the road. Minnesota plays on the road against #3 USC, #11 UCLA, #18 Ohio State and #20 Maryland. The Gophers will host #5 Michigan, #10 Iowa, and #15 Washington, and closes out the regular season against #23 Illinois.
This Gopher team has a ton of potential, but there may be some growing pains along the way as players figure out what their roles are and how Plitzuweit will best use her players to fill the holes she has. But this team should be exciting to watch, and should compete once again at a high level. The NCAA Tournament is a bare minimum goal. The quest begins on Monday.
Minnesota and Harvard will tip off at 5 PM and the game will stream on B1G+. The Gopher radio network will carry the game with Justin Gaard on the call on 96.7 FM or via theI Heart Radio App,
