Kate Koval will join Baylor after the NCAA approved a transfer waiver for the Ukrainian center, the school announced Saturday. She left LSU after the April deadline for entering the NCAA transfer portal and had been expected to start at center for the Tigers this season.
Koval spent her freshman season at Notre Dame and made the ACC All-Freshman Team before transferring to LSU for 2025-26. She appeared in 35 games for LSU, starting 17, and posted 8.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. She made 56% of her field-goal attempts.
Koval also played for Ukraine at the 2026 FIBA 3x3 Women’s World Cup, where the team advanced to the quarterfinals.
Koval said she chose to leave LSU after the program signed 17-year-old Russian post player Anna Minaeva. Koval was born and raised in Ukraine, and said her father is a drone operator in the Ukrainian military and that Russian attacks have killed or injured people close to her.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey, a former Baylor coach, had told Koval before LSU recruited Minaeva that the two could represent their countries, according to the report. Koval said she was not comfortable with that plan.