Former Penn State women's basketball standout Kamaria McDaniel will transfer to Baylor, bringing one of the nation's leading scorers to a program that remains the defending national champion.
Baylor announced the addition Monday, a week before the start of classes.
A 5-foot-10 guard who was entering her senior year at Penn State, McDaniel will have to sit out the 2020-21 season at Baylor. She will be eligible to play in the 2021-22 season.
McDaniel averaged 19.8 points per game on 40 percent shooting for Penn State last season, earning first-team all-Big Ten honors. She ranked second in the Big Ten in points per game and would have ranked fifth nationally among returning players in Power 5 conferences this season, trailing only Kentucky's Rhyne Howard, Rutgers' Arella Guirantes, Arizona's Aari McDonald and Iowa State's Ashley Joens.
McDaniel scored a career-high 40 points in a win against Pittsburgh last season and scored more than 30 points on two other occasions.
"I am excited to welcome Kamaria to Baylor and the Lady Bears," coach Kim Mulkey said in a statement. "As one of the premier scorers in the Big Ten last season, she will bring a tremendous amount of experience to our back court."
Baylor previously added high-profile transfers DiJonai Carrington from Stanford and Jaden Owens from UCLA this offseason. Only Carrington is expected to be eligible for the upcoming season, but the influx of talent allows Baylor to reload for the short- and long-term futures after losing WNBA draftees Te'a Cooper, Lauren Cox and Juicy Landrum from a team that had a 28-2 record when the NCAA tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
McDaniel is the sixth player to leave Penn State by transfer since the start of last season, the first season under coach Carolyn Kieger. Four of those players transferred to other Power 5 programs, while a fifth transferred to the Big East.