WBB: Gabby McBride enters transfer portal

During a teleconference on Thursday, Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly announced that freshman Gabby McBride had entered the transfer portal.

As a freshman for the Cyclones, McBride never appeared in a game.

“For our team, Gabby McBride is in the transfer portal,” Fennelly said on the teleconference. “She will not be back. We have four incoming freshmen that everyone knows about, and you’re still recruiting. There’s still kids out there that we would like to add.”

This comes on the heels of Fennelly and his staff reeling in the best recruiting class they have seen in school history.

The class ranks No. 10 in the nation according to ESPN and is led by five-star prospects Lexi Donarski and Aubrey Joens. Joens is the sister of current Iowa State star Ashley Joens and Donarski has been ranked as the 12th best player in the class.

The pair will be joined by two four-star recruits that are also in the ESPN Top-100 in Emily Ryan and Kylie Feuerbach.

Fennelly and his staff will continue to try and utilize the spring recruitment period, citing depth as an issue to his team this past season.

“I think the biggest thing I learned this year is that three of those (five starters) missed a lot of time,” Fennelly said. “We got caught, I think, without the depth that we needed. So, I need to make sure I do a better job of managing that.”

Iowa State’s roster after McBride’s departure sits at 13 scholarship players for the upcoming season.

Fennelly would like to add to it, but quality will come into play for the final spots.

“We’re going to still recruit,” Fennelly said. “We’d like to add some people during the spring signing period, there’s no question. I don’t know if we will.”