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Gopher Women Defeat Harvard 82-62
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- Gopher Women Defeat Harvard 82-62
There are a lot of new faces that the #17/18 Minnesota Golden Gophers are breaking into their lineup for the 2026-27 season. For the first three quarters of Monday's season opener against Harvard, it definitely looked like a team that had not spent a ton of time playing together. But the Gophers took over and put together a complete final quarter to extend a two point lead after three quarters into a 20 point 82-62 win to open the season 1-0.
Minnesota picked up three new players in the transfer portal and had a pair of impact freshmen that were all supposed to make an impact this season, and from game one we saw just that. All three transfers and both impact freshman played at least 14 minutes in the win over the Crimson led by Natalie Kussow's 32 minutes. Kussow was in the Gophers starting lineup filling the void left by the injury to Tori McKinney and was joined by the expected pair of Mara Braun and Grace Grocholski along with a pair of transfers in Leah Harmon and Tayla Thomas. While Penn State center transfer Gracie Merkle did not start, she made the most of her 18 minutes off the bench leading the Gophers with 22 points.
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Minnesota and Harvard were locked in a back and forth battle for the first three quarters. Minnesota's largest lead in the opening ten minutes was just four points as the Crimson kept close, and Minnesota struggled to shoot the long ball. In fact Minnesota did not make a three pointer until Grace Grocholski hit one with 4:06 left in the second quarter to put the Gophers up 28-25. A pair of Merkle layups gave the Gophers their largest lead of the game at that point of eight points, and a Harvard free throw would cut the lead to seven at halftime with Minnesota leading 37-30.
Harvard came out the aggressors right away in the third quarter. A quick 7-0 aided by five Minnesota turnovers tied the game. Minnesota did score their first basket of the second half until nearly four minutes into the third quarter. They then went on a 7-0 run of their own to take a seven point lead once more, but Harvard came storming back taking a lead of their own late in the quarter. It would take a Grocholski three with six seconds left in the third to put Minnesota back on top 54-52 headed into the final ten minutes.
There the Gophers finally played up to their capabilities. They clamped down on defense and started taking the ball to the basket and getting open looks. Minnesota opened the quarter on a 21-4 run and never looked back. Coach P emptied the bench with a minute left in the game getting Kylee Pabin and Adit Kuol their first action in a Gopher uniform and Minnesota opened the season with a 82-62 win.
To steal from Blake, and with accounts that this is the first game of the year, we have our own Elite, Meh, and Ugly from Minnesota's win:
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Elite:
As Grace and Gracie go, so will the Gophers.It was the G & G show for Minnesota last night as Merkle made her Minnesota debut and did exactly what was expected scoring a team high 22 points in 18 minutes of work on 10-11 shooting from the field. She was 204 from the free throw line, but with a career average of near 61% thats what you will need to deal with to get the rest of the benefits from her game.
Grocholski also looked in mid-season form scoring 20 points, adding a team high five assists and was 3-7 from beyond the arc. She will need to be an offensive leader this season for the Gophers in both a scoring and facilitating role and she did just that on Monday.
Tayla Thomas is going to be huge this season for Minnesota: Thomas the Northwestern transfer made an impact right away starting over Merkle and alternating time with her in the low post. She recorded a double-double ending up with 13 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes of action. More impressively was her 7-8 performance from the free throw line leading all Gophers in scoring from the charity stripe. She added a pair of steals as well. She may end up being a steal as she still has two more years of eligilbity left after this one.
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Free Throws Went Down:Minnesota as a team was a remarkable 25-28 from the free throw line on Monday night. They went right after Harvard and frankly probably could have gotten even more calls. They made them pay with everyone perfect from the line with the exception of Merkle and Thomas. If the Gophers can make 90% of their free throws in every game, watch out.
Meh:
Freshmen played like Freshmen:And that's to be expected. Natalie Kussow got the start and played a whopping 32 minutes with Tori Oehrlein playing 14 minutes off the bench. Both players looked a bit tentative at times in the first half but got more confidence and helped lead the fourth quarter charge to pull away. Kussow ended up with nine points on just 2-8 shooting and was 0-4 from three, but was 5-5 from the free throw line. She also had four rebounds, three assists and a air of turnovers. Oehrlein added four points on 2-3 shooting and added one asist and turnover. Kylee Pabin and Adit Kuol saw action in the final minute of the game but both do not appear to be in the initial nine-player rotation for Dawn to start the season.
The returners needing to step up were AWOL: Coach P had called out a couple of players by name in the preseason as returning players who were expected to step up and fill larger roles with Tori McKinney out. But it didn't really happen on Monday for Makenna Christian or Kennedy Klick. Both only played eight minutes on Monday night and only Klick scored recording two points. They weren't bad—just not effective either. The hopes is that one or both of them will break out in larger roles at some point this non-conference season, or both will be relegated to the end of the nine player rotation it appears Coach P feels comfortable playing at the moment.
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Ugly:
Turnovers will haunt.Minnesota committed 16 turnovers in the win on Monday which was five more than their 11.4 they averaged a season ago. Minnesota struggled breaking the half court trap that Harvard was using at times and they did not seem to have a confident player who wanted the ball in her hands to bring it across halfcourt. This is where they miss McKinney in a large way, and Amaya Battle in another. They will need to figure out who they trust with the ball and to get smoother as the season goes on. Minnesota was one of the top in the nation in assist/turnover ratio last season, but starting out with 12 assists to 16 turnovers is not a great way to back that up.
Is Mara Broken?Mara Braun is the leader of this team. She is the veteran that all the younger players look up to. She has been one of the best players in the Big Ten, and now coming off of a pair of foot injuries has had to work her way back. But Monday night was not great. Braun scored just four points on 1-7 shooting and was 0-2 from three. She committed a team high five turnovers. Her defense was still good ending up with a team high three steals and a block, so she is still valuable to this team. But if Braun is not a realistic offensive option going forward if she can not figure out her shot, it will be interesting to see what Coach P does with the rotations once say Oehrlein gets a few more games under her belt. It easily could be one bad game and she could bounce back with 20+ against Marquette on Saturday. But it is something to watch as these bad games have seemed to happen more often since her return from injury.
Minnesota returns to action Saturday afternoon in their first road game of the year at Marquette. Tip is set for 2 PM and will stream on ESPN+.
