Four intriguing names in the Women's college basketball transfer portal

Kelly Graves and the Oregon women's basketball team just finished a 20-12 season that ended with a second-round loss in the NCAA Tournament to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium 59-53.

Now the second season begins, sorting through the names in the transfer portal. Already there are 847 players in the portal as of Thursday morning, according to On3 Sports. Here are four of the most notable:

1. Cotie McMahon, Ohio State

The leading scorer for the Buckeyes, McMahon averaged 16.5 points and 4.7 rebounds for OSU, a six-foot forward who was the No. 23 recruit in the country in the class of 2023. She's from Centerville, Ohio, a fiery player who suffered a bit of backlash after yelling at Tennessee players in the handshake line following the Buckeyes loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Nevertheless, she's athletic and can score. She made 44 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range this season.

2. Breya Cunningham

Cunningham is a 6-4 forward who played for the Arizona Wildcats in 2024, averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds a game. Graves and the Ducks were one of her finalists coming out of La Jolla County Day School in San Diego in 2021. As a girl she wanted to be a gymnast, until her mother and coach Christiana Houghton told her there were no six-foot gymnasts.

In high school as a freshman she had 26 double-doubles in 33 games, on a team that went 32-1. At Arizona she shot 56 percent from the floor this year, 8th in the Big 12 in rebounds. In the conference opener she had a career-high 21 points versus BYU.

3. Taliah Scott

Scott led Auburn in scoring this season as a sophomore, putting up 20.3 points a game for the Tigers, 5 rebounds, two assists and two steals while shooting 50 percent from three, limited to just thee games. In 2023 she played 20 and was ever more prolific, 22.1 points a game. She's a 5-9 guard from Orange Park, Florida.

She's an enticing talent after leading the SEC in scoring as a freshman, but she entered the portal with a "Do not contact" tag.

4. Gracie Merkle

A 6-6 center from Penn State, Merkle would be a strong replacement for Kyei at center. From Mount Washington, Kentucky, she averaged 15.5 points a game for the Nittany Lions, 8.6 rebounds a game while shooting a deadly-accurate 67 percent from the floor.

She entered the portal with a "do not contact" tag, however, suggesting that her destination is already picked out.

Graves must summon the sagacity of Branch Rickey and Red Auerbach to craft a roster for the 2025 season. After the Ducks' second-round loss to Duke in the NCAA Tournament, he and the team said good-bye to smooth-shooting guard Deja Kelly and skyscraper center Phillipina Kyei, both seniors in hopes of moving on to the WNBA.

Graves said after game, “I think we’re in a good place. We gave it everything we had. I think we emptied the tank this year, and I think we’re in a good spot. We’ve got a great returning group, and we’re going to miss these seniors, but I think we’ve got the program in a really good place right now. I can’t wait for the future. It’s going to be fun.”

The rebuilding for a new season starts with the players on hand. Freshman guard Katie Fisco shined in the first-round 77-73 overtime win over Vanderbilt, hitting four of six shots in 19 productive minutes off the bench, getting the Ducks going after Vanderbilt made a surge in the second quarter. In the first, her steal and a layup tied the game at 9-9.

Junior guard Nani Falatea should be back. She hit for 17 points in the first-round win, including 4-7 from three-point range. Her three in overtime got the Ducks a 71-70 lead with 3:10 to play in the extra period. Sofia Bell, a 6-1 sophomore guard from Jesuit High School in Portland, looks ready to step into a larger role.

Bell started 21 games as a freshman before an injury, averaging seven points a game. She had six off the bench against the Commodores, connecting on a pair of threes.

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