The Minnesota Women's Basketball program will be without Mara Braun in the postseason. On Monday, Gophers head coach Dawn Plitzuweit confirmed that the Gophers star will not return after missing a majority of the season.

Plitzuweit also confirmed that Braun had suffered the same injury that ended her season a year ago, breaking a bone in her right foot. She called the injury for Mara "incredibly challenging."

"I think this has been incredibly, incredibly challenging," Plitzuweit said when discussing the injury. "I think that everybody can understand and rationalize that it would be hard to have the same injury and to be out kind of back-to-back seasons with the same injury," she expanded. "But when you really put yourself into that situation, man, that is unbelievably challenging."

The Gophers and Braun discussed a potential return to the court this season but opted not to take any chances with the guard's health. "I think it was hopeful," she said about whether the Gophers were hopeful for a potential return. "But probably not something we were banking on, if that's a safe way to say it."

Plitzuweit noted that Braun is currently not practicing with the program outside of providing additional help for the coaching staff. Plitzuweit also jokingly said that soon, she'd just hand the clipboard to Mara and tell her "to go."

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The Gophers head coach credited Braun's character and support system for helping her through the injury while still being an important part of the team's success despite her absence on the court.

"Credit to her character and to her, I think, support system, too," Plitzuweit said. "I think she has done just an amazing, amazing job of not making it about her, but making it about her helping her team in any way that she can, which—that's really hard to do, and I give her a lot of credit for doing that."

Braun played in just five games for the Gophers before her season ended, averaging 13.6 points and 4.0 assists per game. Her last appearance was on November 17 against SMU, a 65-56 win for the Gophers, in which she had 13 points and five assists in 39 minutes of action.

By playing just five games this season, Mara will be able to redshirt, saving her one season of eligibility.

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