Short-handed Gophers leave the Bahamas 1–1 amid offensive struggles

Minnesota couldn't find an offensive rhythm without its top scorer.

Brylee Glenn (No. 12) from Minnesota's win over USF on Monday. | Picture credit: University of Minnesota Athletics

As college basketball teams across the country play in multi-team events (MTEs) across North America, Minnesota's women's basketball team went to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship, and it's coming back with one win and one loss.

The tournament field provided Minnesota with some resume-building opportunities with NCAA Tournament hopefuls USF, Alabama and Harvard. The Gophers opened the tournament on Monday against the Bulls, who were fresh off an impressive win over Duke.

The Gophers have already dealt with some adversity this season, with the surprise transfer of Mallory Heyer and a season-ending knee injury for Taylor Woodson. They faced even more with leading scorer Tori McKinney (13.2 PPG) out for both Monday and Wednesday's games. With Zoey and Tracey Bershers both still out, Minnesota has only 10 healthy scholarship players.

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Minnesota looked like it missed McKinney's offensive firepower on Monday against the Bulls, with only 57 points as a team. They shot 19 of 56 (33.9%) from the field, with 16 turnovers, but still did just enough to beat USF 57-45. Grace Grocholski led the Gophers with 14 points.

Gophers women's basketball earns a hard-fought win over USF, despite only scoring 27 points in the second half, and shooting 33.9% from the field as a team.

They will face the winner of Harvard and Alabama tomorrow evening. https://t.co/Brm697WNdP pic.twitter.com/fovcryB6HP

— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) November 24, 2025

The Gophers advanced to Wednesday's championship against Alabama, which began the season 6-0, and beat Harvard by 20 points in the opening round. Kansas State transfer Brylee Glenn replaced McKinney in the starting lineup, and she delivered two of her most complete games of the season.

Grocholski led Minnesota again with 18 points on Wednesday night, but it was Glenn's one turnover in 99 total minutes that kept their offense afloat. They stormed back from a 10-point halftime deficit to take a lead with 49 seconds to go against the Crimson Tide, but Alabama just had a little bit more, winning 63-58.

Minnesota averaged 92.0 points in its first four wins of the season over North Dakota, Manhattan, Marquette, and NJIT. That number plummeted to 57.3 per game over the last three games against Kansas, USF and Alabama, which has resulted in a 1-2 record.

Now 5-2, the Gophers will have a well-deserved break and look to get healthy before hosting Samford on Monday night at the Barn. The Bulldogs are 4-5 this season, and they're a team that Minnesota will be heavily favored to beat.