The Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team represents the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. The Golden Gophers have played in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

since the conference began sponsoring basketball in 1982. The team plays its home games in

Williams Arena Williams Arena is an indoor arena located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home arena for the University of Minnesota's men's and women's basketball teams. It also housed the men's hockey team until 1993, when it moved into its own building ...

and is currently coached by

Dawn Plitzuweit Dawn Plitzuweit (; born October 31, 1972) is an American basketball coach, currently the head women's basketball coach at the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball, University of Minnesota. Playing career Plitzuweit attended Michigan Techno ...

. The Golden Gophers have made nine appearances in the

NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, sometimes referred to as Women's March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Div ...

, highlighted by a Final Four appearance in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. The Golden Gophers also have three appearances in the

AIAW women's basketball tournament The AIAW women's basketball tournament was a national tournament for women's collegiate basketball teams in the United States, held annually from 1972 to 1982. The winners of the AIAW tournaments from 1972 to 1981 are recognized as the national ...

History

The Golden Gophers have had 5 players play professional basketball, as well as eight players named All-Americans. Four players,

Lindsay Whalen Lindsay Marie Whalen (born May 9, 1982) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Whalen played college basketball at the ...

, Amanda Zahui B., and Janel McCarville,

Rachel Banham Rachel Banham (born July 15, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Banham played guard for the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball team, where she set ...

were selected in the top four of WNBA draft. The Gophers have ranked in the top 20 nationally in attendance for seven seasons, starting with the 2001–2002 season.

Postseason appearances

AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament appearances

The Golden Gophers appeared in the

(the precursor to the modern NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship) three times before it was discontinued in 1982. They compiled a record of 1–3.

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Golden Gophers have appeared in ten NCAA Division I Tournaments. They achieved their highest ranking in 2005 with a #3 seed. Their overall record is 12–10.

WBIT Results

The Golden Gophers have appeared in the

Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament The Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament inaugurated in 2024. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and is run by the Nationa ...

(WBIT) one time. Their record is 5–0.

Head coaches

*Joan Stevenson, 1971–1972 (5–3) *Deb Wilson, 1972–1973 (8–8) * Linda Wells, 1973–1974 (3–10) *Jenny Johnson, 1974–1977 (36–37) *Ellen Mosher-Hanson, 1977–1987 (172–125) *LaRue Fields, 1987–1990 (24–60) *

Linda Hill-MacDonald Linda Hill-MacDonald (born August 21, 1948) is an American former women's basketball coach. Career She was head coach at Fredonia from 2013 to 2018 and at the University at Buffalo from 2005 to 2012. She was also head coach at Temple University ...

, 1990–1997 (66–126) *Cheryl Littlejohn, 1997–2001 (29–81) * Brenda Oldfield, 2001–2002 (22–8) * Pam Borton, 2002–2014 (236–152) * Marlene Stollings, 2014–2018 (82–47) *

, 2018–2023 (71–76) *

, 2023–present

Gophers in the WNBA

Year-by-year results

Conference tournament winners noted with # Source , -style="background: #ffffdd;" , colspan="8" align="center" ,

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

References

External links

* {{Big Ten Conference women's basketball navbox