Baylor announced Saturday that Kate Koval, a 6-foot-5 center from Kyiv, Ukraine, will continue her college basketball career in Waco. The NCAA approved her transfer after the regular portal period had ended. A Baylor spokesperson said it remains uncertain whether Koval can play right away, since classes started in late August.
Koval left LSU after the school added Anna Minaeva, a Russian player with professional experience in Moscow. Koval said her father serves in the Ukrainian military and publicly sought NCAA permission to transfer.
In a social media appeal, she wrote, “People close to me have been killed and wounded in Russian attacks, and places where I grew up and first began playing basketball have been destroyed by missile strikes.”
NCAA rules permit a transfer after the deadline if an urgent circumstance outside 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 preparing for coach Nicki Collen’s sixth season. The Bears were 25-9 last season, retained most players who could have entered the portal and graduated four starters.
Baylor had signed three transfers and had no freshman recruit. Koval is expected to play with leading scorer Taliah Scott, who averaged 20 points, and Marcayla Johnson. She will be Baylor’s second 6-foot-5 player, alongside Lorena Awou, and Collen said Koval’s scoring, passing and defense could help the team.
