The Gophers women’s basketball team has lost another player to the NCAA transfer portal. But this one might be the hardest to take.
Stillwater’s Sara Scalia, the team’s top scorer for the last two seasons, has entered the portal. Scalia was coach Lindsay Whalen’s first recruit. A straight starter in her freshman season, Scalia has posted double-digit averages in each of her three seasons with the Gophers.
She leaves the Gophers with 1,158 points and makes 214 of her 560 three-point attempts (38.2%).
“I met with Sara [Wednesday] and she has informed me of her intentions to enter the transfer portal,” Whalen said. “I thanked her for her contributions to the women’s basketball team and wished her well in the future.”
The NCAA portal has become big business. Among the Power Five conference teams, 163 players have entered the portal as of Thursday morning. In Division I, a total of 843 players decided to change teams.
It happened to the Gophers too. Guard Jasmine Powell, part of the same recruiting class Scalia was in, left mid-season and will play for Tennessee. Forward Kadi Sissoko announced her decision shortly after the Gophers season ended with a second-round loss to WNIT at South Dakota State.
Post players Erin Hedman and Klarke Sconiers, who were struggling to find game time, also entered the portal.
Of all the players, Scalia is perhaps the hardest to replace. This season she averaged 17.9 points and made 111 of 269 three-pointers (41.3%). She hit 20 or more points 12 times, 30 or more points four times, including the team’s WNIT first-round win over Green Bay when she scored 17 of her 33 points in the fourth quarter.
Scalia’s father Peter said that Sara’s relationship with Whalen and her associates is good. But it seemed like the Gophers and Scalia had just been somewhere else. Scalia has two years of eligibility left, while the Gophers — even with a high-tier Recruit class — have been in more of a rebuild mode.
“The clock is ticking,” he said. “She’s quite a strong-willed kid. She said, ‘I want to win.’ ”
And at this point that could be with another program.
This is something the Scalia family has been discussing for a while, and it wasn’t an easy decision. Peter Scalia said there were times when Sara, known for her work ethic in the gym, looked for teammates with the same dedication.
“This freshman class comes in with this work ethic,” he said. “But in the first year there are unknowns about how quickly these children will develop.”
Scalia hit double figures in 22 straight games, a streak cut short at South Dakota State.
Whalen and her staff must work to replenish the roster. With the transfers and players lost to completion, the Gophers currently have four players in guards Alexis Smith, Maggie Czinano and Katie Borowicz and postal player Alana Micheaux.
Whalen has a 10th Recruitment Class, four-player group, all from Minnesota, in guards Mara Braun (Wayzata) and Amaya Battle (Hopkins) and forwards Nia Holloway (Eden Prairie) and Mallory Heyer (Chaska).
Still, the gophers will need to use the transfer portal to gain experience in general and get help in the mail specifically. Of the players returning next year, only Smith (13), Borowicz (one) and Micheaux (16) have started games. The Gophers need experience, three-point shooting, and presence in the post.