Women’s basketball: Gophers get their scoring post through portal

Dawn Plitzuweit has nabbed the size and scoring she was looking for in the NCAA transfer portal.

Gracie Merkle, a 6-foot-6 post who averaged 19.2 points and 8.2 rebounds for Penn State last season, announced she has committed to the Minnesota program Monday on social media.

“Go Gophers! #committed,” she wrote on x.com.

Merkle will have one season of eligibility and fill a large hole left by Sophie Hart, a three-year starter from Farmington who played a big role as the Gophers reached the Sweet 16 this spring in their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2018.

She led the nation in field goal percentage last season at 72.4 percent, eight points better than the nation’s top-scoring center, Audi Crooks of Iowa State, who committed to Oklahoma State this week.

Merkle joins the Gophers with point guard Leah Harmon as transfers, who committed to Minnesota after playing her sophomore season at Central Florida. She averaged 15.6 points and 2.2 assists, and shot 38% from 3-point for the Knights last year after playing sparingly at Miami (Fla.) as a freshman.

The Gophers return three starters, all guards, from a team that finished last season 24-9 overall after beating Green Bay and Mississippi in the NCAA tournament, and losing to eventual champion UCLA in the regional semifinals. They finished fourth in the Big Ten with a 13-5 conference mark.

Leading scorer Tori McKinney returns for her junior season after leading the Gophers in scoring with a 12.7-point average. Grace Grocholski (12.1 ppg.) and Mara Braun (11.7 ppg.) will be seniors.

Minnesota also welcomes four freshmen next season from a class ranked No. 19 nationally by 247 Sports: guards Tori Oehrlein and Natalie Kussow, and forwards Adit Kuol and Kylee Paben. Kussow was the player of the year in , Paben in .