Until Sunday's buzzer-beating, game-winning shot against Lehigh, what happened on the court at Hopkins High School in March of 2020 might have been one of Mara Braun's best memories.
It was that night, in a sectional championship game between Wayzata and Hopkins, that Braun went toe-to-toe with Hopkins star Paige Bueckers, who was headed to Connecticut.
Hopkins won, but Braun held her own. Bueckers scored 33, Braun 27.
Next year, the rematch.
The Gophers women's basketball team announced Tuesday that Connecticut would come to Williams Arena for a game Nov. 19, 2023.
"I'm super excited,'' Braun said. "It's always exciting to play a player like that. Especially her coming back from injuries, in her home state.''
Bueckers was the Associated Press' National Player of the Year as a freshman. She has helped lead the Huskies to two Final Fours, including a berth in the title game at Target Center in April. This season she is out while rehabbing from a knee injury.
The game is happening for much the same reason Sunday's game with Lehigh was scheduled. Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen wanted to give the six Minnesotans on the Lehigh roster a chance to play at home. And Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma wants to do the same thing for Bueckers.
