Transfer portal: Three players Notre Dame women’s basketball should pursue

Niele Ivey has not been shy to use the transfer portal to her advantage in her handful of seasons as the Notre Dame women’s basketball head coach. Since taking the job in 2020, Ivey has brought in seven transfers.

She needs to add to that total for depth purposes ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.

As it stands, Notre Dame is set to have 10 scholarship players next season. That’s assuming everyone from last year’s roster who has eligibility remaining elects to stay in South Bend, minus rising junior KK Bransford who entered the transfer portal on Sunday.

Here are three potential portal players for Notre Dame to target.

Kaitlyn Chen, G, Princeton

Anna DeWolfe 2.0, anybody?

Chen was the 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year, mirroring DeWolfe’s status as Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year in 2020-21. Chen averaged 14.2 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game in three seasons at Princeton. She’s not the sharpshooter DeWolfe was from 3, hitting at just a 29.3 percent clip in her career, but she’s excellent everywhere else with a 46.5 percent overall shooting percentage.

Chen played in 90 games and started 80 for Princeton. She averaged 19.3 points in games against then-No. 3 UCLA, then No. 22 Oklahoma, then-No. 21 Indiana and No. 8 NCAA Tournament seed West Virginia. There is a reason UConn has shown interest in her. She can perform admirably against stout competition.

Notre Dame is set with starting guards Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron, but the Irish know as well as anyone injuries can happen. And they already lost an important depth piece in KK Bransford to the portal. Without a guard signed in the recruiting class of 2024, Notre Dame needs help at the position in the portal. Chen is an intriguing option.

Liatu King, F, Pittsburgh

How about a fifth year in the ACC for King?

The first three were productive for the Panthers but nothing too special. This past one, King played like one. Or a queen. Whatever you fancy, she was darn good in averaging 18.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game on her way to being named the ACC’s most Improved Player and an all-conference first teamer.

King put a scare in Notre Dame with 34 points and 13 rebounds in a narrow five-point win for the Irish on Jan. 4. She held to her averages with 18 points and 14 rebounds against Notre Dame a month later.

The Fighting Irish coaching staff knows King well, so they realize what a relentless rebounder and, at times, prolific scorer she is. She had 18 double-doubles, second most in the ACC. Notre Dame has No. 5 overall recruit Kate Koval coming to South Bend, but the timetable for Kylee Watson’s return from an ACL tear suffered in March is up in the air — as is Maddy Westbeld‘s decision whether or not to utilize her COVID-19 waiver for a fifth season. The Irish could use some help in the post. King is one of the best portal players on the market in that area.

Ajae Petty, F, Kentucky

Petty has followed a similar career arc as King. It took her four years and two schools to become a starter. But once she got there, there wasn’t much stopping her. Petty averaged 14.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in 32 starts for the Wildcats. That’s lightyears ahead of who she was when she averaged 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game in 31 appearances at LSU from 2020-22.

Petty has been a lifelong SEC hooper, but she’s from Baltimore. If she wanted to branch out and head back north to Notre Dame, it wouldn’t be completely unexpected. She’s desirable for the Irish for the same reason as King; Notre Dame needs another post player in a pretty bad way.

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