Kate Koval, a 6-foot-5 center from Kyiv, Ukraine, is moving from LSU to Baylor after the NCAA approved a waiver for an out-of-window transfer. Baylor announced the addition Saturday, but a team spokesperson said it was not yet known whether Koval could 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 said her father serves in the Ukrainian military.
In a social media appeal for NCAA approval, she wrote that people close to her had been killed or wounded in Russian attacks and that places tied to her childhood and early basketball years had been destroyed by missile strikes.
NCAA rules permit an outside-the-window transfer when an urgent circumstance beyond a student-athlete’s control requires an immediate departure and is unrelated to athletic opportunities or participation at the current school.
Koval joins Baylor as coach Nicki Collen prepares for her sixth season in Waco. The Bears went 25-9 last season, retained most of their roster through the portal, graduated four starters, added three transfers and had no freshman recruit in the incoming class. Koval is expected to play with scoring leader Taliah Scott and Marcayla Johnson.
