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UVA Women's Basketball: Hawa Doumbouya to Enter Transfer Portal

Matt Newton

Hawa Doumbouya/IG

Virginia women's basketball has its first transfer portal departure of the offseason. Sophomore center Hawa Doumbouya, who redshirted this season at UVA after transferring in from Maryland last spring, reportedly has plans to enter the transfer portal when it opens on March 24th, as first reported by On3's Talia Goodman on Thursday afternoon (March 20).

A 6'7" center from The Bronx, New York, Doumbouya was initially recruited by Virginia out of high school (Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Maryland) but ultimately committed to Maryland, where she appeared in 13 games as a true freshman in the 2023-2024 season, averaging 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds in just 3.5 minutes per game. Doumbouya entered the transfer portal at the end of that season and ultimately committed to the Cavaliers last April.

It was confirmed at the beginning of the season that both Doumbouya and freshman guard Kamryn Kitchen would be redshirting the season. Neither of these redshirts came as a huge surprise. In Doumbouya's case, it made a lot of sense for the center to take a year to get into better playing shape and learn Virginia's system while saving a year of eligibility before beginning to make on-court contributions in 2025-2026 with three years of eligibility still remaining.

Somewhere along the way, it would seem that plan was derailed as Doumbouya now exits Virginia without ever playing a single minute on the floor. Doumbouya is the first Cavalier to declare for the transfer portal this offseason.

Virginia is currently slated to return the bulk of its roster heading into next season. Virginia's sophomore class of Kymora Johnson, Olivia McGhee, and Edessa Noyan remains intact and Paris Clark has another year of eligibility as well. Jillian Brown is due back from injury after missing the entire 2024-2025 season and Yonta Vaughn could probably claim a medical redshirt as well after playing just nine games this season, but she has another year of eligibility left anyway. Former transfers Latasha Lattimore, RyLee Grays and Casey Valenti-Paea still have eligibility remaining as well. Breona Hurd and Payton Dunbar just finished up their freshman campaigns. Graduate center Taylor Lauterbach is the lone player on this year's roster who has definitively exhausted her eligibility.

Given the annual turbulence of the transfer portal, it seems likely that Hawa Doumbouya will not be the last Virginia player to declare for the portal this offseason. It's only a question of how many players will depart and who they will be. With Virginia receiving its record-breaking donation from Alexis Ohanian in December, the expectation is that Coach Mox and her staff will have an aggressive approach towards the transfer portal this offseason in efforts to upgrade Virginia's roster heading into next season.

Stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for all the latest updates regarding Virginia's offseason activity in the transfer portal.

More UVA Women's Basketball News & Content

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UVA Women's Basketball's Kymora Johnson Named to All-ACC First Team

Round Robin: Setting the Stage for the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Surges Late Past UNC

UVA Women's Basketball Takes Down No. 8 North Carolina 78-75 | Takeaways

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.