photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas guard Carla Osma looks to shoot during the game against North Alabama on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Lawrence.

Four members of the Kansas women’s basketball roster entered the transfer portal on Tuesday, the first day it was open.

A KU Athletics spokesperson confirmed to the Journal-World that guards Zoe Canfield and Carla Osma and forwards McKenzie Smith and Freddie Wallace were all in the portal as of Tuesday afternoon.

Two served as role players during the 2024-25 campaign, while two did not see the floor. The early exits, with a month remaining in the transfer window, create additional roster space for a team that only had two players go through senior night but is bringing in a class of four highly touted freshmen this summer.

Osma, a freshman from Madrid, Spain, played the most significant role of the four departing Jayhawks. She appeared in 27 of KU’s 30 games, averaging 12.9 minutes per appearance with 2.2 points and 2.0 rebounds, and offering some size on the perimeter at 6 feet tall.

Canfield, who is from Topeka and attended Washburn Rural High School, played in just three nonconference games, then 16 combined minutes in her first eight appearances of league play, before she hit four 3s on 4-for-7 shooting in a road loss to Kansas State. Canfield then became a somewhat more regular part of the rotation for the rest of the year, even starting in KU’s road win at BYU as head coach Brandon Schneider looked to create a spark by moving some of his usual starters to the bench.

Smith and Wallace did not play during the 2024-25 season, meaning they were able to redshirt. Smith, a sophomore forward from Amarillo, Texas, had appeared in six games the prior year. Wallace, a 6-foot-2 junior forward and two-time All-American at Butler Community College, was unable to play due to what she described as “health issues” (as part of an announcement on March 11 that she intended to enter the portal).

Pending further portal entries, the Jayhawks will be able to return their core players from the campaign, which they finished with a 16-14 record. That could include all five regular starters in guards Laia Conesa, Sania Copeland, Elle Evans and S’Mya Nichols and forward Regan Williams, as well as rotational contributors Nadira Eltayeb and Brittany Harshaw. It is not yet clear whether guard Wyvette Mayberry will take a medical redshirt and return for a sixth season of college basketball after playing in just six games due to injury.

KU is bringing in what is currently ESPN’s No. 7 recruiting class in the nation, which includes three state Gatorade players of the year in forward Jaliya Davis and guards Libby Fandel and Keeley Parks. The fourth member of the class is forward Tatyonna Brown.

One key position of need in the offseason is center. The Jayhawks lacked a true power center over the course of their season and were undersized against quite a few Big 12 teams, despite the admirable efforts of Williams in the post.