After the college basketball transfer portal opened on March 18, five American women’s basketball players entered, according to The Next Hoops. The group includes senior guards Kayla Henning and Anna LeMaster, senior forwards Emily Johns and Marisa Lee and sophomore forward Molly Lavin. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many athletes have an extra season of eligibility.
“Four of these five are graduating from American University in May, and their decisions are not unexpected. The fifth student-athlete in the portal has chosen to pursue an undergraduate experience elsewhere,” head coach Tiffany Coll said in an email statement. “We're very proud of our graduates and all that they've contributed to the program. We're looking forward to next season with those who have chosen to return, along with a talented incoming class.”
Johns and Henning were part of AU’s 2021-22 Patriot League Championship-winning team as sophomores under former head coach Megan Gebbia, while LeMaster, Lee and Lavin all joined the team in 2022-23. LeMaster came to American as a transfer from Dayton University, and Lee joined from the University of Hartford.
If LeMaster and Lee do go through with transfers, this would be their second time doing so. Previously the NCAA would force multiple time transfers to sit out for a year, but in a December 2023 agreement the NCAA waived that requirement, at least until the end of the 2023-24 academic term.
American has the second highest number of players in the transfer portal in the Patriot League with five players in the portal. Bucknell University has six players in the portal. Johns and LeMaster each played in all 30 games this season, two of just three players to do so, with Johns starting in all 30 as well. Lavin followed with appearances in 28 games, Henning with 27 and Lee with just seven.
Johns led American in points per game this season with 12.5. LeMaster, Lavin and Henning all followed in the top six in points per game. Lee had played limited minutes with not much scoring throughout her two seasons at American.
The team previously lost five players to transfer after the 2021-22 season. Three of whom finished their senior seasons at American before playing elsewhere as graduate students. The team only lost two players after the 2022-23 season when both of them simply graduated. The large quantity of players leaving this year is, in part, a result of an unusually large class of six seniors.
This article was edited by Delaney Hoke and Abigail Pritchard. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
