This season, the Colorado women’s basketball team had its largest class of freshmen in several years.
The majority of those freshmen won’t be in Boulder next season.
Guards Jadyn Atchison and Lele Tanuvasa and forward Ruthie Loomis-Goltl have decided to transfer after one season with the Buffaloes.
Mikayla Johnson, another freshman, also put her name into the transfer portal on Tuesday.
Point guard Kennedy Sanders is expected to be the only member of the 2023 class to stay at CU next season.
Atchison, a 6-foot-1 guard from Cedar Hill (Texas) High School, played 14 games for the Buffs this season. She had 51 minutes of playing time, scored 19 points, and grabbed 15 rebounds.
Atchison had her collegiate debut on Nov. 8 against Le Moyne, where she had season highs for minutes (12), points (eight) and rebounds (five). However, she only played for 15 minutes after conference play began and did not participate in CU’s three NCAA Tournament games.
Loomis-Goltl, a 6-foot-3 forward from Bridgeport, Neb., did not play this season. She was rated the No. 78 prospect in the 2023 class by ESPN’s HoopsGurlz, averaging 19.4 points and 8.2 rebounds in four seasons in high school.
Tanuvasa, a 6-0 guard from Eureka, Calif., also did not play this season. She averaged 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds as a high school senior.
A total of five scholarship players have entered the transfer portal since the Buffs’ season ended with a Sweet 16 loss to Iowa. In addition to the four freshmen, sophomore forward Brianna McLeod also put her name into the portal on Tuesday. Walk-on freshman Shelomi Sanders is also transferring.
CU had 17 players on the roster this season and at least 11 will be moving on, including transfers and five graduates.
At the moment, six players are expected to return – although guard Tameiya Sadler, who has a year of eligibility left, has not decided on her future – and the Buffs have three incoming freshmen.
Guards Frida Formann, Kennedy Sanders, Sara-Rose Smith and Kindyll Wetta, and possibly Sadler, are projected to return, along with center Aaronette Vonleh.
Formann and Vonleh were both starters this year, while Sadler, Smith and Wetta were all important rotational players. Kennedy Sanders, who did not play this year, was rated as the No. 75 prospect in the 2023 class by ESPN.
Incoming freshmen Tabitha Betson (a 6-foot-2 forward from Australia) and wing Grace Oliver (a 6-1 wing from Massachusetts) are both four-star recruits rated as top-85 prospects for the 2024 class by ESPN. Lola Lagerlid, a 6-0 guard from Sweden, is also joining the Buffs as a freshman.
Head coach JR Payne and her staff currently have six open scholarships.
Notable
CU senior point guard Jaylyn Sherrod will compete in the College All-Star Game in Cleveland on Saturday (1:30 p.m. MT, ESPN2). Furthermore, Sherrod and fellow seniors Quay Miller and Charlotte Whittaker have declared for the WNBA Draft, which has a list of players who have declared for the draft, released by the league on Thursday. The draft will take place on April 15.
