The Gophers women’s basketball team has added two more players via the NCAA transfer portal in point guard Alexsia Rose (from UMass) and post player Jordan Brooks (CSU Bakersfield).
The moves likely set the Gophers roster for the upcoming season. The team officially begins summer practice Monday.
Rose is a 5-7 veteran grad transfer who will have one more season of eligibility remaining. She would appear to fill the role Janay Sanders held with the team last season. Rose, a strong perimeter defender, missed her first ten games last season due to injury but returned to start 17 of the final 20, finishing second on the team in scoring at 11.4.
Prior to going to UMass, Rose played at Eastern Carolina, which she helped into the NCAA tournament in 2023.
“Alexsia is a dynamic point guard that not only provides our team a veteran presence, but is also a proven winner,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit said in a release. “She is someone who can start our defense by applying pressure to the ball early and she also has the ability to create things offensively for herself and others.”
Brooks will provide depth in the post. She went to Bakersfield after two seasons of junior college basketball. Her 2023-24 season was also affected by injury, limiting her to 16 games, during which she averaged 8.0 minutes. But in her final season of junior college basketball she averaged 1.5 points, 9.7 rebounds and shot 58.5 percent.
“With Jordan’s size and strength, we feel that we have added important depth in the post position,” Plitzuweit said.
The Gophers, who return all five of their top scorers from last season (Mara Braun, Amaya Battle, Grace Grocholski, Sophie Hart and Mallory Heyer), have welcomed four new players via the portal and lost three since the end of their season.
Minnesota natives Annika Stewart and Taylor Woodson were previously-announced additions. A 6-3 post, Stewart appeared in 111 games with Nebraska before coming to Minnesota as a grad transfer. Woodson, ranked by ESPN as the 59th-best player in the 2023 recruiting class, is a former teammate of Battle’s at Hopkins High School.
Three players – center Ayianna Johnson, forward McKynnlie Dalan and forward Ajok Madol – transferred out. Johnson went to Colorado, Dalan to Gonzaga, Madol to Dayton.