Over her two-plus years as Minnesota’s women’s basketball coach, Dawn Plitzuweit has built a team that’s difficult to play against. The Gophers can score from the perimeter and the blocks, outscore opponents by an average of 17.8 points and take care of the ball, averaging a Big Ten-best 10.6 turnovers a game.

So far, it has earned them the No. 19 spot in the Associated Press poll, the No. 4 seed in this week’s Big Ten Conference tournament and the very real possibility of two NCAA tournament games at Williams Arena.

Minnesota’s Amaya Battle drives to the basket during the Gophers’ 84-67 victory on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, at Williams Arena. Battle scored a team-high 21 points in the Gophers’ seventh straight win. (Claudia Staut / Gophers Athletics)

The position the team has put itself in sets up everything this team has been working toward as far back as 2022, when three current Gophers — Amaya Battle, Mara Braun and Niamaya Holloway — committed to play for their hometown team.

Now that it’s all in front of them, do the Gophers enter Friday’s conference tournament quarterfinal with the unbridled confidence of a contender, or will they start getting tense?

“When we play our best basketball, we’re loose and we’re having fun as a group,” said graduate post Sophie Hart, one of five Gophers scoring in double figures this season. “That’s something we have continually talked about in huddles, especially in games and practices. Knowing that, I don’t think we can be tense.

“We’re having a lot of fun. We’ve stayed loose, and I think that’s contributed to our run this past season.”

Minnesota (22-7) is set to meet Indiana (18-13) or Ohio State (25-6) in a Big Ten quarterfinal on Friday in Indianapolis. Tip off is set for approximately 2:30 p.m. CST at Gainbridge Arena. It will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

The Gophers finished tied for fourth in the 18-team Big Ten, their best finish since the 2003-04 Final Four team went 12-4 in conference play, with a 13-5 record. That was tied with Ohio State, but the Gophers earned the two conference tournament byes by virtue of a 71-64 victory over the Buckeyes on Feb. 18.

“This group is continuing to develop,” Plitzuweit said. “They continue to look at things and understand things. … They’re a team that understands the game and wants to get better. It’s a lot of fun to watch them do that.”

The U deliberately cleared Williams Arena for the first weekend of NCAA games, anticipating possible home games after the Gophers were forced to play all but one of its five Women’s Basketball Tournament games on the road last spring. The Gophers won the tournament, anyway, but their biggest nail-biter was an overtime victory over Gonzaga in a quarterfinal at Williams Arena.

Minnesota senior post Sophie Hart, right, goes up for a shot against North Dakota’s Walker Demers in the Gophers’ 91-47 victory over the Fighting Hawks at Williams Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. Hart scored 16 points in Minnesota’s season opener. (Jerod Ringwald / Gophers Athletics)

Minnesota might not have to win Friday to get those tournament home games. The Gophers are No. 8 in the NCAA’s latest NET Rankings — the most important metric in seeding — and the top four seeds will host first- and second-round regional games. Furthermore, in its latest bracket prediction released Wednesday, the NCAA had the Gophers and Buckeyes as No. 4 seeds.

The Gophers have won 10 of their past 11 games, have three wins over ranked opponents (No. 9 Iowa, No. 11 Ohio and then-No. 21 USC) and lost in double overtime at No. 14 Maryland.

“I think for this team, at this point in time, the body of work that they’ve put in is something that’s being recognized,” Plitzuweit said. “We’re playing in the best conference, by the metrics, in women’s basketball — and you can argue maybe the best ever in women’s basketball based upon how many teams (seven) are ranked in the Top 25.

“To be able play in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament is something this team has worked really, really hard for.”

And the players vow they’re not done. It’s a team that trades leading scorers game to game, and seems to have a different hero every night. Tori McKinney, Grace Grocholski, Mara Braun, Amaya Battle and Hart all average between 10.7 and 13.6 points a game.

None of her players, Plitzuweit noted, waits for someone else to make a big play — offensively or defensively — and none of them are more interested in their numbers than wins.

It just works.

“I think we all just like each other. It really just comes down to that” said senior point guard Battle said. “We all like each other on and off the court, so if someone’s having a really successful game on the court, we’re gonna celebrate that, and they’re gonna do the same for us.”

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