Baylor announced Saturday that Kate Koval, a 6-foot-5 center from Kyiv, Ukraine, is joining the program after receiving an NCAA waiver. A team spokesperson said it was not yet known whether Koval could play right away, since classes started in late August.
Koval departed LSU after the school added Anna Minaeva, a Russian player with professional experience in Moscow. Koval said her father serves in the Ukrainian military.
After the transfer portal closed, she sought NCAA permission to leave LSU, describing in a social media post how Russian attacks had killed and injured people close to her and destroyed locations tied to her childhood and early basketball training.
NCAA rules permit a transfer outside the normal window if an urgent circumstance beyond a student-athlete’s control requires an immediate move 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 were 25-9 last season, retained most of their roster through the portal, graduated four starters, signed three transfers and had no freshman in the incoming class. Koval is expected to play with Taliah Scott, who averaged 20 points last season, and Marcayla Johnson. She becomes Baylor’s second 6-foot-5 player, alongside Lorena Awou, a January transfer from NC State.
