Kate Koval, a 6-foot-5 center, will continue her college basketball career at Baylor after the NCAA granted her a waiver to transfer outside the usual portal period. Baylor announced her addition on Saturday, although a team spokesperson said it was not yet clear whether she 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, who is from Kyiv, Ukraine, said her father is serving in the Ukrainian military. She announced plans to leave LSU after the transfer portal had closed and then made a public request for NCAA approval.
In that appeal, Koval described the war’s effect on people close to her and on places connected to her childhood and early basketball years. “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,” she wrote on social media.
NCAA rules allow an out-of-window transfer when an urgent situation beyond a student-athlete’s control requires an immediate departure and is not connected to athletic opportunities or participation at the current school. The waiver allowed Koval to find a new program after the regular transfer period ended.
Koval joins a Baylor roster being reshaped for coach Nicki Collen’s sixth season in Waco. The Bears went 25-9 last season, kept most of their players from leaving through the portal, and graduated four starters. Baylor had already signed three transfers and did not have a freshman recruit in its incoming class.
