The Minnesota Golden Gopher women’s basketball team will have a gorgeous place to try and bounce back after their first loss of the season. Minnesota plays their first game of the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo
Championship in the Bahamas on Monday afternoon against South Florida at 3PM.
Minnesota picked up their first loss of the season last Wednesday at Kansas. The Gophers could not get the offense flowing and shot just 34% for the game including a dreadful 5-23 from beyond the arc. Tori McKinney led the Gophers with 14 points while Mara Braun and Grace Grocholski also both were in double figures with 13 and 12 respectively. Braun has struggled shooting the ball in her return from her foot injury so far this season shooting just 38% for the season. She was just 5-15 and a dreadful 1-8 form three point range in the loss to Kansas. On the other side Minnesota could not slow the home Jayhawks enough. Kansas shot 47.7% from the field overall and was 41% from beyond the arc. All Big 12 guard S’mya Nichols led the way with 24 points and did a great job at getting to the free throw line going a perfect 12-12 from the stripe in the game.
Minnesota now continues their toughest stretch of the non-conference season. The Gophers open up in the Bahamas with a 3-2 South Florida team that just dominated a good Duke team last week, and then are guaranteed to face a 2025 NCAA Tournament team in the second game of the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship on Wednesday against either Alabama or Harvard.
South Florida comes in at 3-2 with wins over FIU, LIU and Duke last Thursday 85-72. Their two losses have been to former Minnesota assistant Carlie DuDonnis’s Fairfield team and #3 UCLA. The Bulls had to adjust to a new head coach in Michele Woods-Baxter who was a long time assistant for USF after their former head coach Jose Ferandez was named the coach of the Dallas Wings in the WNBA in October. The Bulls do have a talented team. South Florida was selected as the favorite to win the American Athletic Conference for the sixth straight year. Senior forward Carla Brito was named the American’s Preseason Player of the Year and earned a unanimous spot on the Preseason All-Conference First Team. Graduate forward L’or Mputu also earned a spot on the first team.
Through five games, Edyn Battle leads the Bulls with 16.0 points per game. Katie Davidson is right behind at 15.6 points per game with Stefanie Ingram with 13.6. Brito has been injured and made her season debut against the Blue Devils and should play against the Gophers on Monday.
The Gophers lead the series between the two programs 2-1, which dates back to 1971. Minnesota picked up wins in 1971 and 1998, both on the road while losing the most recent matchup in 2011 in Daytona Beach, Fla., at the WBI Tip Off.
Monday’s tip is set for 3 PM and will stream for a fee on FloSports. The game will air on radio on 96.7 FM and I Heart Radio as well.
