Another Minnesotan is returning home to play for the Gophers women's basketball team.
This time: Former Hopkins star forward Taylor Woodson will play for Gophers coach Dawn Pritzweit after spending her freshman season at Michigan and entering the NCAA transfer portal. I decided.
Woodson is a 6-0 power forward who hits the boards hard, plays tenacious defense, is a three-level scorer and is a former high school teammate of current Gophers point guard Amaya Battle. At Hopkins, he won two of his 4A state titles.
A member of Hopkins' varsity team since seventh grade, Woodson was part of Hopkins' state title teams in 2019 and 2022.
The start of Woodson's senior season at Hopkins was delayed by an ankle injury. But both she and Hopkins performed well, advancing to the 4A title game for the fourth time in her prep career.
Woodson, ranked No. 59 nationally in the 2023 recruiting class by ESPN, chose the University of Michigan and averaged 1.9 points and 1.7 rebounds in 8.9 minutes of playing time last season.
She joins former Wayzata star post Annika Stewart, who last week announced her intention to transfer from Nebraska to the Gophers in her final year of eligibility. Reserves Ayanna Johnson and Ajok Madole have entered the transfer portal.
This is an important addition for the Gophers, who overcame injuries to reach the championship game of the WNIT Tournament this spring as they continue to build a very Minnesota-centric roster.
Four of last season's five starters were from Minnesota: Mara Brown, Battle, Mallory Heyer and Sophie Hart. Minnesotans Nia Holloway and Maggie Czinano came off the bench. Next year, Kennedy Click (Maple Grove High School) will return from a knee injury sustained last summer.
We also have a very deep team. The Gophers, the youngest team in the Big Ten from last season, return all starters. The fifth person is Grace Grocholski from Wisconsin. All five are ranked in ESPN's top 100 recruiting classes: Brown (age 28), Battle (age 39) and Heyer (age 55) in the 2022 class, Hart (age 64) in the 2021 class, and last year. Groholski (98 years old).
Then there's incoming guard Tori McKinney (Minnetonka High School) and high-scoring guard McKenna Johnson from Wilmot (Wisconsin). She actually graduated early and joined the Gophers midway through the season, but she did not play.
McKinney comes to the Gophers with strong defensive credentials and has been named the state Defensive Player of the Year by Prep Girls Hoops the past two seasons. Johnson, who averaged 26.1 points and 10 rebounds in his final high school season, was ranked No. 63 in the 2024 class by ESPN. And Stewart would add much-needed depth to the position.
And now Woodson should join right away, considering he's familiar with much of the team from playing high school basketball and AAU.