Last year around this time, while the Gophers were beginning their Big Ten Conference tournament, Mara Braun was gearing up for a return to the court after breaking a foot in late January.

Her 2023-24 eligibility spent, Braun came back to play in two WNIT games, although by the time Minnesota was in the championship — a loss to St. Louis — the sophomore guard was back on the sideline tending to her right foot.

That won’t happen this year.The 13th seeded Gophers (20-10, 8-10 Big Ten) begin the conference tournament on Wednesday with a 2:30 p.m. tip against No. 12 seed Washington (18-12, 9-9) in Indianapolis. Braun will be working from the bench, where she has been conspicuous this winter after breaking the same foot during practice on Nov. 20, often the first to meet players after timeouts.

She has played four games this season, early enough that the former Wayzata star can have her entire junior season back in 2025-26. That wasn’t the case this year. Using up an entire season to play an undetermined number of tournament games this spring would be, well, not worth it.

“And,” coach Dawn Plitzuweit said Monday, “you certainly can’t go through this again, or you never want to. So, you can’t risk any of those types of situations. She’s not practicing with us at this point in time.”

The Gophers have essentially been without Braun, their leading scorer as a freshman and sophomore, all season. The same goes for sophomore Taylor Woodson, a forward who played her freshman year at Michigan. Woodson was averaging 8.1 points and 4.4 rebounds when she blew out a knee on Dec. 11.

Plitzuweit said the team had been hopeful Braun might be able to play at some point this season, but that hope was “probably not something we were banking on.”

Braun averaged 17 points in 20 games as a sophomore last season, and was averaging a team-high 13.6 points a game, plus five assists and 3.75 steals, in her four games in November. Playing without Braun and Woodson this season, “makes it very challenging,” Plitzuweit said. “(But) we can only control what we can control, right?”

Braun remains a big part of the team, at games and practices, but is limited physically.

“She’s doing some more things a little more aggressively outside of practice,” the coach said. “But in practice, she can pass and communicate and do some of those things, and pretty soon I’m just going to hand her the clipboard and tell her to go.”

Plitzuweit said Woodson, a 6-0 forward from Hopkins, is “doing great.” Both players, the coach said, will ultimately be better next season because of the experience.

The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to meet No. 5 seed Michigan on Thursday afternoon. The Gophers lost home games to the Huskies and Oregon as the regular season wound down, and Washington — with three athletic scorers including savvy point guard Elle Ladine — was particularly effective against Minnesota in a 72-62 victory at Williams Arena.

The Huskies shot 58 percent from the field and 50 percent (8 of 16) from 3-point range.

“It’s a good opportunity for us to go back to film and re-evaluate, and work to be in better spots this time around,” Plitzuweit said. Ultimately, she added, details and execution are what has kept the Gophers from beating a ranked opponent this year, despite hanging close to teams such as No. 2 USC, No. 13 Ohio State and No. 15 Maryland.

Certainly a veteran guard such as Braun would have helped in that are, but Plitzuweit said she’s confident this season wasn’t wasted for Braun and Woodson. Both players, she said, are better leaders today than they were at the season’s onset. And the team playing without them, they’re better, too.

Plitzuweit said she discussed that with Braun during a recent practice.

“We did some things in practice this past week in terms of our attentiveness and urgency and leadership that we haven’t done yet in the two years that we’ve been here,” the coach said. “So, our conversation on the sideline has been, ‘We’re going to be really good. We’re going to get this figured out. We’re going to turn the corner. We are getting better, this was a great day for us moving forward.’ ”