2026 five-star recruit McKenna Woliczko lists Stanford among finalists

Jason Burke | Nov 3, 2024

Feb 10, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; The Stanford Cardinal logo at center court before the game between the Stanford Cardinal and the USC Trojans at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images / Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

The Stanford Cardinal women's basketball program is in a bit of a transitional period. Legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer has retired, making way for longtime assistant Kate Paye to take over. They also will be without their three leading scorers from last season in Cameron Brink (WNBA), Kiki Iriafen (transfer), and Hannah Jump (grad student), which means that new leaders will need to step up this season. This is also Stanford's first season in the ACC, which poses a new set of challenges, such as cross-country travel.

All that is to say that this season will be intriguing, and one person that could be looking on with added interest is 2026 five-star recruit McKenna Woliczko, who is attending Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose. The 6-foot-2 wing recently told On3 that her finalists are Stanford, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, USC, South Carolina, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Florida State, Iowa, and Texas, stating that her relationship with each of the coaches is important to her to help her through the good days and the bad days.

She's also focused on setting herself up for the future. "And I want to go to a school that’s going to set me up for the future – a school that has WNBA experience, Olympic experience, Team USA experience. I want to go to a school that has the possibility of winning a national championship and being the best school in the country."

Stanford is one of the best academic schools in the country, which appears as though it will play a role in her final decision, given her focus on the future. That said, her focus is certainly on basketball. Of the ten finalists, seven of the ten are currently ranked within the top-25 in the AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll. For the first time in 25 years, the Cardinal women are unranked heading into the season.

She told On3, "So Stanford is obviously close to home. It’s the closest one. It’s actually closer to home than it is for me to drive to school every day. It has a good history. Coach Katy Steding– that was my first ever recruiting call. So I’ve been calling Stanford the longest out of everybody.

"It’s obviously a good basketball school, and they have had great players come out of it. I’ve also been able to come to a lot of their basketball games, so I feel like I have a sense of how the team works. Withgoing there, I feel like I’ve been able to hear some stories that make me feel similar to Stanford in certain ways."