Wisconsin Women’s Basketball In-State Transfer Portal Options

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team has four open scholarships by my count heading into the offseason and I’d recommend that they fill all four of them. The Badgers only had 14 filled this past season for reasons I’m unclear on since another member wasn’t added to the 2024 recruiting class, so hopefully it was being banked for a big transfer portal haul.

Wisconsin has a solid core of returning players but they need a talent infusion at any and all positions if they’re hoping to compete for an NCAA Tournament bid next season. Let’s go over the current roster (and their class) as it stands on April 9, 2024:

PG: Ronnie Porter (Junior); Leena Patibandla (Sophomore)
SG: D’Yanis Jimenez (Sophomore); Lily Krahn (Junior)
W/F: Halle Douglass (Super Senior); Ana Guillen (Sophomore); Gracie Grzesk (Freshman)
W/F: Tessa Grady (Sophomore); Imbie Jones (Sophomore)
C: Serah Williams (Junior); Alie Bisballe (Freshman)

Undecided: Natalie Leuzinger (Super Senior, would replace Grady in starting five)
In transfer portal: Sania Copeland (SG); Tessa Towers (C); Sacia Vanderpool (F)
Graduated: Brooke Schramek (W/G)

Now this isn’t some set in stone depth chart, more of just a visual representation of the players Wisconsin women’s basketball has and where they’d probably play on the court. Here is what I imagine Marisa Moseley and her staff will be looking for in the portal.

Needs: veteran post; shooting at, uh, any/every position; perimeter defender; backup ball handler

With four open spots on the roster Wisconsin COULD meet all of these needs and, since some of these skill sets overlap, they could get multiple players that fulfill them. I have made a pretty sizable list of players I think Wisconsin women’s basketball should target, so let’s go through some of them!

First up, let’s take a look at some players who are from Wisconsin and might return to their home state. Later we’ll look at out-of-state options as well as some intra-conference options that might be good fits too.

The class listed with the player is their class for the 2024-25 season.

Wisconsin Natives Looking for a New Home

Julianna Ouimette, Lehigh, 5-foot-10, guard, sophomore; Minocqua, Wis.

One of the most statistically impressive players to come out of the state of Wisconsin in recent years, Ouimette was named First Team All-State as a junior and senior while scoring 2,349 points in her career at Lakeland Union High School. She added 757 steals, 727 assists, and 713 rebounds while also being named the Great Northern Conference Player of the Year three times.

As a freshman at Lehigh, she only appeared in four games for a total of eight minutes and scored seven points. Four of those points came at the end of Lehigh’s win over LaSalle and set the school record for points (106) in a single game. That game was on Dec. 7 and it was the last time Ouimette saw the court for the season.

I couldn’t find much on the Lehigh message board I scoured about why Ouimette didn’t play anymore after Dec. 7, but it sounded like she was sick at some point during the season and it caused her to miss some games. As a player with potentially four more years of eligibility, I think Ouimette could be a nice depth addition at point guard who could develop into the starter once Porter graduates.

Also of note: her younger sister, Kristina (6-foot-1, wing), committed to Lehigh for the 2025 class and it will be interesting to see if she de-commits or not now that her sister is transferring. Kristina is an AAU teammate of incoming Wisconsin women’s basketball freshman Gracie Grzesk too.

Nevaeh Thomas, Evansville, 5-foot-11, forward, sophomore; Kenosha, Wis.

After ending her career at Kenosha Bradford as the school’s all-time leading scorer, Thomas filled up the box score at Evansville and was named to the Missouri Valley All-Freshman Team. She played in 22 games (starting 17) and averaged 15.7 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game, 1.1 assists per game, and 1.0 steals per game.

She is not much of a perimeter player (0-of-6 from three on the year) but shot 48.5% inside the arc and over 73% from the free throw line. She was an extremely high usage player for Evansville (97th percentile in the nation) and should be more effective and efficient in a lineup where she isn’t tasked with doing so much on offense. Thomas was a very good rebounder as a freshman and she also didn’t turn the ball over a ton, two traits that would be valuable to Wisconsin. Thomas doesn’t have ideal size for a post player, but you can’t argue with the results she delivered as a freshman.

Jorynn Ross, Pepperdine, 6-foot-3, forward, sophomore; Milwaukee (graduated HS in Texas)

This is a little bit of a cheat because, while Ross is from Milwaukee, she spent her high school career in Houston. She played her first two years at John Cooper High School, where she was first team all-conference as a freshman and sophomore, and then finished her high school career at Summer Creek High School, where she was named conference newcomer of the year as a junior and made first team all-conference as a senior.

It is DEFINITELY worth noting though, that, according to her Pepperdine bio, her favorite pro sports team is the Green Bay Packers. Would a return to the Land of Jordan Love be that far-fetched???

Ross played in 27 games (12 starts) for the Waves and averaged 6.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.0 spg, and 0.5 bpg while shooting 52% from the field. She isn’t much of a three-point threat, but her rebounding rates and steal/block rates are promising, especially as a backup option to Serah Williams who would be playing against other teams’ second units.

She earned WCC Freshman of the Week honors twice last year and was also named to the WCC All-Freshman Team at the end of the season. Per usual for a freshman, Ross had a bit of an up-and-down season, but she has the size and potential to be a contributor for the Badgers next year.

Khamya McNeal, Stetson, 5-foot-8, guard, redshirt senior; Milwaukee

McNeal, out of Rufus King High School, started her career at Syracuse (appeared in three games) but has played her last three years at Stetson. She began playing varsity basketball as an eighth grader and, as a senior, was named Milwaukee City Gold Player of the Year, third team All-State, and first team All-Conference.

As a high usage backup point guard, McNeal can fill it up quickly, if a bit inefficiently. Despit never playing more than 60% of Stetson’s minutes over the past two years, her usage rate has never been below the 94th percentile. Her eFG% last season wasn’t good, but her rates of getting to the free throw line and attempting threes were and the Badgers don’t have an aggressive guard like that (D’Yanis Jimenez could be one as she gets more playing time) on the roster currently.

If McNeal came in as a one-year rental to help spell Ronnie Porter (and play next to her to have two solid distributors on the floor at once) I think Wisconsin would really benefit from her veteran presence.

Anna Mortag, Butler, 6-foot-1, wing, redshirt senior, Milwaukee

So I can literally find nothing about why Mortag didn’t play at all this past season. Nothing on Google, nothing on Butler’s official site…nothing! She is mentioned in a couple of early season game previews where cryptic things like “waiting for her to suit up” and “she hasn’t played yet this year” are written and then there is nothing until she was honored on Senior Day. In the Senior Day picture on Butler’s website she is not in uniform but I couldn’t see any visible signs (cast, boot, sling, etc.) of injury.

With that being the case, uh, let’s take a look at how she played the year before!

The native of Milwaukee (Brookfield Central High School) started 21 games (24 games played) during the 2022-23 season and averaged 7.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.8 apg, and 0.7 spg while shooting 39% from the field (but, strangely, 43.5% from deep on three attempts per game). Her free throw shooting (never under 82.5% in the two seasons she played double-digit minutes) suggests that her shooting stroke is legit, but maybe not 98th percentile in the country good.

At 6-foot-1, Mortag would bring some nice size to the Wisconsin women’s basketball team’s frontcourt and a shooting touch that the team lacks overall. Presumably Marisa Moseley and company can figure out why Mortag didn’t play at all this year and make sure everything is on the up-and-up before seeing if she’d be a fit in Madison.

Other Wisconsin Natives Looking For a New Home

• MaKenzie Drout, Appalachian State, guard, redshirt freshman; Kimberly, Wis.
• Aaliyah Moore, Loyola (Chicago), 6-foot-0, forward, senior; Milwaukee
• Mya Moore, Seattle, 6-foot-0, forward, sophomore; Milwaukee
• Lily Randgaard, Western Illinois, 5-foot-10, guard, sophomore; Oconomowoc, Wis.
• Callie Ziebell, Bradley, 6-foot-2, forward, junior; Sparta, Wis.

How Wisconsin Women’s Basketball Transfers Fared in 2023-24

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