Baylor’s Kate Koval has landed on the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award preseason watch list, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced Friday afternoon.
Koval arrives in Waco as a transfer from LSU after playing in all 35 games last season, starting 17. She averaged 8.3 points and 6.3 rebounds while also finishing with 43 blocks, which ranked 11th in the Southeastern Conference. Two of those block-filled outings stood out most: she had five at home against Arkansas and five again on the road at Mississippi State.
The Kyiv, Ukraine, native also put together several big scoring nights. She went for a career-best 23 points against Alabama State on 8-of-15 shooting and knocked down seven free throws in that game.
Over the course of the season, she posted seven double-doubles, pushing her career total to nine. She also set personal highs in free-throw attempts with nine, field-goal attempts with 15 and steals with nine.
Before arriving at Baylor, Koval spent her first collegiate season at Notre Dame and earned a spot on the All-ACC Freshman Team. She started 10 games there and averaged 5.3 points and 4.7 rebounds.
Her 55 blocks rank fourth all-time by a freshman in Notre Dame history, and she matched a career-high with seven blocks at Lafayette. She also added 40 assists.
Koval’s early college production was eye-catching from the start. In her first three Division I games, she piled up 40 points, 33 rebounds, 15 blocks and eight assists, including a 14-point, 16-rebound double-double against James Madison. She became the first freshman in Division I basketball, male or female, to reach those numbers since Anthony Davis.
A decorated recruit, Koval was rated the No. 5 overall prospect and the No. 1 post player in ESPN’s HoopGurlz rankings. She also came into college as a McDonald’s All-American and a SLAM All-American.
Fan voting will be part of the process in each of the three rounds beginning Friday, Oct. 30.
The preseason watch list of 20 players for the 2027 Lisa Leslie Award will be cut to 10 in February, then to five in March. The five finalists will then be sent to Leslie and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee, which will decide the winner.
The winner of the 2027 Lisa Leslie Award will be announced on a date to be determined along with the other four members of the Women’s Starting Five. The other awards in that group are the Nancy Lieberman Award for point guards, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award for shooting guards, the Cheryl Miller Award for small forwards and the Katrina McClain Award for power forwards.
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