Back in the spring, Cleveland State was battered by nine players entering the transfer portal, eight of whom wound up at other Division I schools. How have they acclimated to their new realities? Here’s a quick midseason update on those players, as well as other former Vikings around the basketball world.
Transfers
Mickayla Perdue (G/Arizona)
Undoubtedly, the 2024-25 Horizon League Player of the Year has found things quite comfortable at Arizona, where she’s become one of Becky Burke’s centerpiece players. Without the burden of the ballhandling duties that proved a struggle at CSU last year – those fall to Noelani Cornfield, one of Burke’s former Buffalo stars – Perdue has been able to focus on scoring. And she’s done plenty of that, including 17.8 points per game and a new single-game career high of 34 against Chicago State on December 15th, as UofA has started the year 9-3. There are clouds on the horizon, however. Arizona’s schedule has been putrid so far (356th, according to the NET), so there’s a lingering notion that things might take a sharp downward turn once the meat of the Big 12 slate arrives.
Destiny Leo (G/UNLV)
Leo has been primarily a three-point specialist since tearing her ACL back in 2023, a reality that’s carried over to her time at UNLV. She struggled pretty heavily with her shot during the first leg of the season, including knocking down just six of her first 23 attempts from outside. However, things appear to have taken a pretty dramatic turn: she’s earned starting assignments in the Lady Rebels’ last three games, and delivered her best performance of the season on December 20th with a 6-for-8 line from deep in a win over New Mexico. Though UNLV is just 7-5 overall so far, it’s a pretty safe bet that one of the nation’s perennially-strong mid-majors will have plenty to say by March.
Jordana Reisma (C/Missouri)
Reisma has settled in nicely as the starting center in Missouri’s up-tempo system, including 10.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. After five double-doubles at CSU in each of the last two years, she’s collected a pair in 2025-26 already, including a monstrous 22-point, 15-rebound effort against Arkansas State back on November 11th. As with the other high-major team featuring a former Cleveland Stater, Arizona, there are signs that Missouri might struggle as the year proceeds. However, at 12-3 so far, the Tigers at least have a nice cushion headed into the SEC gauntlet. A home contest against unbeaten No. 2 Texas on New Year’s Day will certainly provide something of a measuring stick.
Brenae Jones-Grant (F/Queens)
In some sense, Jones-Grant is a pure form of transfer, as a player who never had much of an opportunity as a Cleveland State freshman in 2024-25, but is now thriving in her new home. The New Jersey native has done no less than lead Queens in scoring (15.1) and rebounding (8.7), while snaring an ASUN Newcomer of the Week award on December 8th. That honor came on the heels of a 27-point, 11-rebound, three-steal effort against Western Carolina, though Jones-Grant has managed 20 or more points two other times this season. Her 60.8 field goal percentage ranks among the top 20 players nationally, and she even had ten points and seven rebounds against mighty South Carolina on November 23rd.
Kali Howard (F/Jacksonville)
After a pair of seasons coming off the bench for the Vikings, Howard has seen a significant bump in responsibility at Jacksonville, while playing alongside former Wright Stater Makiya Miller. She’s an every-game starter and averaging just under 20 minutes for the 7-3 Dolphins, including 6.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Howard connected for a Division I career best 15 points in a win over Florida A&M on December 2nd. She was also involved in JU’s most dramatic victory of the season, an 86-84 overtime result against Charleston Southern in the 2025-26 lidlifter. With seven seconds remaining in the extra period, and the Dolphins trailing by one, Howard rebounded a missed free throw and began a transition play that ended with Tatum Brown’s game-winning layup.
Filippa Goula (G/Oakland)
Ending a career by transferring to a rebuilding program isn’t necessarily anyone’s goal, but Goula has handled it well as a veteran backcourt presence during an establishing year for new Oakland coach Keisha Newell. She’s been (more or less) an every-game starter, and has responded to that playing time growth with the best scoring average of her career, 7.8 points per game. A 13-point, five-rebound outing against Charlotte on November 16th certainly helped her bottom-line statistics, though her turnovers (3.5 per game, against 2.7 assists) remain a concern.
Paulina Hernandez (F/Youngstown State)
Faith Burch (F/Youngstown State)
It’s logical to discuss this pair together, because not only did they both transfer from CSU to Youngstown State (Burch after 2023-24, Hernandez a year later), but they play pretty similar roles for the Penguins in some broad sense. Sophia Gregory and Sarah Baker are firmly entrenched as YSU’s starters at the four and five positions, but Burch and Hernandez have been their primary substitutes, offering 13 and 15 minutes per game, respectively. That quality depth has helped Melissa Jackson navigate fatigue and foul trouble, and has played a major role in the team’s 9-4 start.
Hernandez has the more impressive stat line of the two, including 1.9 blocks per game, the 31st-best average in the nation. She also blew up for a career high 18 points in her first game against Cleveland State, the Penguins’ upset victory on Monday.
Mya Moore (F/Xavier)
Moore’s season ended before it began, as she tore her Achilles tendon during summer workouts back in June. The former backup center at CSU, who began her career at Seattle, will give her fourth year of eligibility another shot in 2026-27.
Professionals
Sara Guerreiro (G/BC Pharmaserv Marburg 🇩🇪)
Guerreiro’s season with German side BC Pharmaserv Marburg has proceeded pretty well; she’s the team’s leader in scoring (11.4), steals (1.8), and among the top five in rebounding (3.2) and assists (1.8). That much isn’t surprising, but what might be is how she’s gotten there. An effective, but reluctant, three-point shooter as a Viking, Guerreiro now fires a ton of deep balls. She’s hitting them too, at a 39.3 percent rate, by far the best number on the squad. After her driving layup with 16 seconds left provided the winning points against Nördlingen on December 21st, Marburg’s record is – wait for it – 6-7. That’s good enough for sixth place in a league that invites eight teams to the playoffs, though Marburg will certainly look for a strong close over the next couple months.
Grace Ellis (F/Brisbane Capitals 🇦🇺)
Over the summer, Ellis became the latest in a long line of graduated Cleveland State and Horizon League players to compete in Australia’s NBL1 (a list that includes former Vikings Taylah Levy and Cori Coleman, as well as Youngstown State grads Lilly Ritz and Emily Saunders). Suiting up for her hometown Brisbane Capitals, Ellis logged a strong 13.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, second on the squad in both categories. Who led the team in those stats? Ashley Harris-Arlen, who had a hall of fame career at Wayne State College from 2009-12, under then-coach Chris Kielsmeier. Small world. Despite the presence of those two, the Capitals ended up in the North Conference’s cellar with a 3-11 record.
Barbara Zieniewska (G/Virtus Cagliari 🇮🇹)
After a couple years in Iceland (where she helped Athena-UMFK secure promotion as a rookie), the 2023 Cleveland State grad has settled into a starting position with Virtus Cagliari, in Italy’s second division. At 5-7, Cagliari is buried in the middle of the table and an unlikely candidate to move up at this point. Little of that has to do with Zieniewska, who has fired home 12.3 points per game, second on the squad. She’s played particularly well of late, including 23 points and ten rebounds against the Milano Stars on December 7th, though that contest kicked off a still-active three-game skid that Cagliari will hope to correct when they resume play on January 17th.
Aminata Ly (C/Kenya Ports Authority 🇰🇪)
After four years at CSU (one of which was wiped out by injury), Ly played her final college season at Fordham in 2023-24. Though she’s bounced around a bit as a pro, the Dakar, Senegal native enjoyed an extremely successful turn with the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) side at the Women’s Basketball League Africa qualifiers in November. She paved the way for KPA’s third-place finish with averages of 10.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks across six games, with those latter two numbers good for ninth and sixth best across the entire tournament. Ly has also played for Heliopolis in the Egyptian Superleague, helping the club to a second-place finish.
Isabelle Gradwell (G/ŽKK Cinkarna Celje 🇸🇮)
Now that Coleman is retired – she’s an assistant coach at Manhattan these days – there perhaps isn’t a better example of “see the world while playing basketball” than Gradwell’s run since wrapping up her college career at Minnesota in 2022-23. The 6-1 wing has played in Spain, Paraguay, and Portugal (with Madeira, a tiny island well off the mainland), and now will try her hand in the Slovenian league. Gradwell signed with a powerhouse ŽKK Cinkarna Celje squad earlier this month, and will add to a roster headlined by Jacksonville State alumna Shawnta Shaw.
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