Nine days after LSU women’s basketball announced it had signed a 17-year-old Russian player, the program’s anticipated starting center—who is from Ukraine—left the team.
Kate Koval, a junior from Kyiv, was heading into her second season with the Tigers after playing her first year at Notre Dame. Her father, Oleksandr, is a drone operator in Ukraine’s war against Russia. His 6-foot-5 daughter played all 35 games for LSU last year and started 17.
Coach Kim Mulkey announced on Monday that Koval came to her the day before to quit the team “for personal reasons.” A spokesperson for LSU tells Front Office Sports that Koval also has expressed her intention to withdraw as a student at the school.
Koval’s next steps are tricky, given the transfer portal is long closed, and classes have already started at many schools. She may need to transfer in April in order to find a new team.
According to the NCAA, midyear basketball transfers can’t compete for another school if they were enrolled somewhere else during the first semester, even if they never played a game. LSU’s classes started on Monday.
