As more than 1,500 players entered the women’s transfer portal this offseason, many of them cruised under the radar. More than 1,100 hoopers committed to new schools since the portal opened, presenting opportunities for surprise stars across the country.
With the 2025-2026 season approaching rapidly, look no further than the partnership between The Portal Report and Hoops HQ for in-depth transfer portal coverage.
So, without further ado, here are 10 players being slept on headed into the 2025-26 women’s hoops season.
1. Amiya Joyner, 6-foot-2 senior forward, LSU (East Carolina)
Hoping to fill the void left by the departure of Aneesah Morrow, the seventh overall selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft, coach Kim Mulkey and her staff acquired Joyner in the portal. Despite joining a squad with a terrific backcourt duo in place (Flau’Jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams each averaged more than 17 points per game), Joyner will have the chance to make an immediate impact. Joyner averaged 15 points and 9.2 rebounds per contest for the Pirates last season.
2. Ta’Mia Scott, 6-foot senior guard, Alabama (Middle Tennessee)
After averaging just 8.3 minutes per game off the bench as a freshman, Scott started every game for the Blue Raiders over the next two seasons. As a junior, Scott posted career highs in points (16.6) and rebounds (6.6), which included a career-best 30 points in a Feb. 6 win over Jacksonville. Her performance earned her four C-USA Player of the Week awards. With Alabama’s top three scorers from a season ago no longer on the roster, Scott’s production will need to translate against improved competition if the Tide hope to remain in the top half of the SEC.
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3. Tanyuel Welch, 5-foot-10 redshirt junior guard, Arizona (Memphis)
Former Wildcats head coach Adia Barnes left her alma mater this offseason to accept the same position at SMU, opening the portal floodgates. Thus, first-year coach Becky Burke inherited a squad with zero returning players. In Welch, Burke and her staff added a versatile scorer who averaged 10.4 points per game in 2024-25 while playing both the point and shooting guard. An Indianapolis native, Welch displayed an ability to score in bursts, uncorking for a career-high 21 points on three separate occasions.
4. Catherine Alben, 5-foot-7 senior guard, Georgia Tech (Charleston Southern)
Alben returned home to Georgia Tech this offseason, just under an hour away from Grayson High School, where she surpassed 1,000 career points as a prep star. Her scoring carried over to the collegiate level immediately, as she scored nearly 10 points per game as a true freshman for the Buccaneers. An All-Big South First Team selection in 2024-25, Alben poured in a career-high 16.6 points per contest in 2024-25. The Yellow Jackets will field a transfer-heavy roster in 2025-26, paving a path for Alben’s leadership and scoring ability to play a crucial role in their success.
5. Josie Gilvin, 6-foot senior guard, Kentucky (Western Kentucky)
An intra-state transfer who will enter her fourth collegiate year playing in her home state, Gilvin started 45 of 97 games over three seasons as a Hilltopper. Gilvin, who won back-to-back state championships at Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville, helped lead Western Kentucky to its best finish since 2019-20 with a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game to go along with 13.1 points per contest, which finished second on the squad. Coming off an excellent first season under head coach Kenny Brooks that saw the team reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky will look to Gilvin to help replace Georgia Amoore, the team’s leading scorer from last season who was selected sixth overall in the WNBA Draft.
6. Rachael Rose, 5-foot-7 senior guard, Clemson (Wofford)
In spite of a leg injury that limited Rose to just six games last season, coach Shawn Poppie and his staff took the chance to add the former back-to-back So-Con Player of the Year (2022-23 and 2023-24). Now fully healthy, Rose will need to get back to her old ways to help the Tigers out of the bottom half of the ACC (they finished 12th in 2024-25). At full strength, Rose logged 91 starts in three years (one at USC Upstate and a pair at Wofford) and scored 22.3 points per game as a junior, which ranked seventh nationally. There’s no denying Rose’s bucket-getting ability, and the Tigers will need a lot more of it to work their way up the conference standings.
7. Jerni Kiaku, 5-foot-7 senior guard, Indiana (Duquesne)
Kiaku shined in her first full season as a starter, averaging 13.2 points per contest for the Dukes last year. A Garner, N.C. native, Kiaku began her career at North Carolina Central, where she scored 10.7 points per game as a key contributor off the bench. With just one Hoosiers starter from last year’s backcourt returning in 2025-26, Kiaku has the chance to earn a starting role in the weeks leading up to tipoff.
8. Sophie Glancey, 6-foot-2 graduate senior forward, Santa Clara (Northern Arizona)
Thanks in large part to Glancey’s scoring touch (top 50 in the nation), the Lumberjacks ended the regular season in second place in the Big Sky standings. NAU fell in the conference semifinals, however, despite a monstrous 29-point, 12-rebound performance from Glancey. On the season, Glancey averaged 18.1 points and 9.6 rebounds per contest, the latter of which finished top-40 in the country. Aside from a second-place regular-season finish in the WCC in 2023-24, women’s hoops has struggled at Santa Clara, reaching the NCAA Tournament just once in the last 20 years. The addition of Glancey will go a long way in determining the Broncos’ fortunes for 2025-26.
9. Jade Weathersby, 6-foot-2 junior forward, Florida (UAB)
While the men’s team enjoyed a magical run to the national title, the 2024-25 campaign did not shake out the same way for the women in Gainesville, as they finished 11th in the SEC. Weathersby, who averaged 11.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game a year ago (including career highs of 27 points against Charlotte on Feb. 8 and 19 rebounds against Wichita State on Jan. 25), will hope to contribute to a turnaround for the Gators.
10. Sa’Mya Wyatt, 5-foot-11 sophomore forward, St. John’s (Austin Peay)
One of three Austin Peay players to start all 31 games, Wyatt averaged a team-high 12.8 points per contest while shooting at a conference-best 56.4-percent clip from the field, all as a true freshman. In just her third collegiate game, Wyatt exploded for 26 points in a win over Indiana State. With each of the Red Storm’s top scorers from a season ago out of eligibility, they’ll need Wyatt to build upon an outstanding rookie campaign, one which earned her ASUN Freshman of the Year honors.
