Baylor announced Saturday that Kate Koval, a 6-foot-5 center, will join its women’s basketball team after receiving an NCAA waiver for an out-of-window transfer. A team spokesperson said it was uncertain whether Koval can play right away because classes started in late August.
Koval, who is from Kyiv, Ukraine, decided to leave LSU after the school added Anna Minaeva, a Russian player with professional experience in Moscow. Koval’s father serves in the Ukrainian military. In her appeal for NCAA approval, she wrote that Russian attacks had killed and injured people close to her and destroyed locations tied to her childhood and early basketball development.
She sought the waiver after the transfer portal closed.
NCAA rules permit such a move when an immediate departure is required by an urgent circumstance outside an athlete’s control and the situation is unrelated to playing opportunities at the current school. Koval joins Baylor as coach Nicki Collen prepares for her sixth season in Waco. The Bears finished 25-9 last season, retained most of their roster through the portal and graduated four starters.
Baylor had signed three transfers and had no freshman recruit in its incoming class. Koval is expected to play with Taliah Scott, who averaged 20 points last season, and Marcayla Johnson, while joining Lorena Awou as the roster’s second 6-foot-5 player. Collen said Koval’s outside scoring, passing and defense could add to Baylor’s offense and interior coverage.
