With a college basketball career that started with a protracted layoff from an ACL tear, Notre Dame forward Nat Marshall battled to find a meaningful role with the Irish, finally emerging as a key reserve throughout and then an emergency starter late in her senior season.
On Wednesday night, the 6-foot-5 Queens, N.Y., product announced via Instagram she’ll take an encore somewhere else, with degree in hand, as she has decided to enter the transfer portal. Sophomore guard KK Bransford, ND’s other key reserve when the Irish injury-diluted roster got thin, announced her imminent transfer on Sunday.
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Marshall played in 34 of 35 games this past season for a Notre Dame team (28-7) that won the ACC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 before falling to Oregon State, 70-65, on March 29 in Albany, in Marshall’s home state.
She averaged 5.0 points and 3.7 rebounds, shooting .500 from the field and .676 from the free-throw line. She averaged a career-high 20.2 minutes.
Marshall’s first college start came March 10 in a 55-51 ACC Championship Game victory over NC State, a day after starting post Kylee Watson went down with an ACL team in a semifinal win over ACC Tourney top seed Virginia Tech.
She then started all three NCAA Tourney games for Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey.
Watson’s timeline for recovery is uncertain and senior forward Maddy Westbeld, expected to return, hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but the Irish do bring in McDonald’s All-American 6-foot-5 Kate Koval in June.
The Ukraine native, who played her high school ball at national power Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran, is an expected starter next season for an Irish team ranked No. 3 in the ESPN Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2024-25. She was ranked as the nation’s top center and No. 5 player overall in the ESPNw rankings.
The only players who exhausted their eligibility after this season were starting guard Anna DeWolfe and deep reserves, forward Becky Obinma and guard Jenna Brown, the latter of whom did not play at all this season because of a knee injury.
In addition to Westbeld, the Irish are expected to return All-America point guard Hannah Hidalgo, All-ACC guard Sonia Citron and Watson at some point. Also returning are three players who took medical redshirt years — guards Emma Risch, Cass Prosper and Olivia Miles, a 2023 All-American.
Former walk-on and deep reserve guard Sarah Cernugel is also eligible to return next season.
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