Baylor has added 6-foot-5 center Kate Koval after the NCAA approved her request to transfer outside the regular portal period. The school announced the addition Saturday, but a team spokesperson said it was not clear whether Koval can play immediately because classes began in late August.
Koval left LSU after the school added Anna Minaeva, a Russian player with professional experience in Moscow. Koval, who is from Kyiv, Ukraine, said her father serves in the Ukrainian military. After the transfer portal closed, she appealed to the NCAA, describing deaths and injuries among people close to her and destruction from missile strikes in places tied to her childhood and early basketball years.
NCAA rules permit an out-of-window transfer when an urgent circumstance beyond an athlete’s control requires an immediate departure and is unrelated to athletic opportunities or participation at the current school. Koval joins a Baylor team that went 25-9 last season, retained most of its portal players and graduated four starters. The Bears had signed three transfers and had no freshman recruit in the incoming class.
Koval is expected to play with scoring leader Taliah Scott, who averaged 20 points per game, and Marcayla Johnson. She becomes Baylor’s second 6-foot-5 player, alongside Lorena Awou, and coach Nicki Collen said Koval’s perimeter scoring, passing and defense could expand the offense and improve interior protection. The report was published by nytimes.com.
