Notre Dame women's basketball has high expectations next season.
With the vast majority of the roster and major contributors expected to return after a third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance, the 2024-25 season has the potential to be the best of head coach Niele Ivey's young career.
But that upward trajectory hasn't sold everyone on the roster that staying at Notre Dame is the best decision for them. That became clear Sunday when sophomore guard KK Bransford announced she is entering the transfer portal.
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The 5-foot-11 Bransford played the fifth-most minutes for the Irish last season with seven starts in 33 games played. She finished the season sixth in scoring average with 6.8 points per game while shooting 39.0% from the field. Bransford averaged 3.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.
Bransford came to Notre Dame with high expectations after being named Ms. Ohio Basketball following her final two seasons at Cincinnati's Mount Notre Dame. As a senior, she averaged 21.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.5 steals per game and was named a McDonald's All-American. The espnW HoopGurlz recruiting rankings slated her as the No. 29 overall prospect in the 2022 class.
Bransford started to show that promise in her freshman season at Notre Dame. She averaged 8.2 points per game on 47.8% shooting from the field. Bransford averaged 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 33 games with 12 starts. That earned Bransford a spot on the five-player ACC All-Freshman Team.
Even with Olivia Miles out for the season with a knee injury, Bransford couldn't find a consistent spot in the starting lineup for the Irish thanks to two newcomers for the 2023-24 season: freshman Hannah Hidalgo and graduate transfer Anna DeWolfe.
Hidalgo essentially replaced Miles on her way to a record-setting season in which she was both an offensive and defensive catalyst for the Irish. She averaged 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 4.6 steals while racking up a slew of honors: Dawn Staley Award, Associated Press First Team All-America selection, ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Tournament MVP.
DeWolfe, who joined the Irish after four season at Fordham, finished fourth on the team in scoring with 8.7 points per game and second in assist with 2.5 per game while starting all 35 games.
DeWolfe is one of three players from last season's roster with expiring eligibility alongside forward Becky Obinma, a graduate transfer from Pepperdine, and guard Jenna Brown, a Stanford grad transfer. Senior forwards Maddy Westbeld, Kylee Watson and Natalija Marshall have not yet announced their plans for next season, but none of them entered the WNBA Draft pool either. They're all eligible to return for the Irish next season.
If all those players return, Notre Dame will be able to peruse the transfer portal market with nine scholarship players projected for next year's roster: graduate seniors Westbeld, Watson and Marshall, seniors Sonia Citron and Miles, junior Cassandre Prosper, sophomores Emma Risch and Hidalgo and incoming freshman Kate Koval. Sarah Cernugal, who was promoted from walk-on to scholarship player prior to her senior season last year, could also return for Notre Dame.
The NCAA scholarship limit for women's basketball is 15.
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