The first piece to Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey’s offseason roster rebuild fell into place Friday, when Wake Forest grad transfer forward Malaya Cowles committed to the Irish, a source confirmed.
The 6-foot-3 Wilkesboro, N.C., product averaged career highs of 8.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in 28 games this past season for the Demon Deacons (9-20 overall, 2-16 ACC), with one of her best games coming Jan. 9 in a 100-64 loss to Notre Dame. She had 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Irish.
Her .558 shooting percentage from the field in 2025 was also a career high and one of the highest single-season marks in Wake Forest history. She took just eight 3-point shots, making one, and was .564 from the free-throw line.
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She came to Wake in January of 2021 out of Winston-Salem Christian School as a midseason enrollee, and that season did not count against her eligibility because of a COVID exemption that season for early enrollees. Cowles, who missed the 2023 season with an injury, will have one season to play with the Irish (28-6, 16-2).
She figures to be the first of several transfer portal additions, as Notre Dame lost four players via the portal shortly after their NCAA Sweet 16 exit, including a starter, and another five to expired eligibility, three of that group who were starters.
Cowles’ addition brings the number of scholarship players on the 2025-26 Irish roster to five, though incoming freshmen forward Leah Macy’s availability for the coming season is in doubt because of a senior-year knee injury.
Notre Dame’s confirmed returnees are two-time, first-team All-American Hannah Hidalgo, Canadian Olympian Cass Prosper and 2024-25 redshirt KK Bransford — all guards.
The deadline to enter the women’s college basketball players is April 23. Players can select schools after the portal window closes, but that is the deadline to submit their names.
Second-team All-America guard Olivia Miles (TCU) and freshman center Kate Koval (LSU) are two outgoing transfers from ND’s 2025 roster who have already found landing spots. Still uncommitted are grad senior forward Kylee Watson and reserve sophomore guard Emma Risch, the latter of whom is recovering from hip surgery.
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