BYU women’s basketball signs 2, adds transfer commitment on first day of spring period

It’s the first day of the NCAA’s spring signing period, and new BYU women’s basketball coach Lee Cummard has already been at work.

The newly named head coach officially added Snow Canyon star Olivia Hamlin in a freshman class that also includes international prospect Yussuf Bolanle, a 6-foot-3 forward from Lagos, Nigeria, who prepped in Japan — and then picked up a commitment from a Division I transfer center, as well.

Hamlin originally signed with Nebraska, but the two-time Utah 4A player of the year who is one of two players in Utah high school girls basketball history with more than 2,500 career points opted out of her national letter of intent following the Huskers’ coaching change and flipped her commitment to Cummard and Co. She was widely considered the No. 2-rated player in Utah, behind only McDonald’s All-American and Duke signee Emilee Skinner.

“The first thing that comes to mind about Olivia is her passion for the game of basketball and for BYU,” Cummard said of Hamlin. “She’s been an elite scorer at the high school level and on the Nike EYBL circuit over the last few years. We are thrilled that Olivia reopened her recruitment and that we were able to show her how she fits in the future of BYU women’s basketball.”

In Bolanle, Cummard adds a post player who averaged 24.7 points and 18.9 rebounds while helping Kyoto Seika Gakuen win Japan’s U18 Nissin League, Saga Japan Games, Hokkaido Inter-High School Athletic Meet and the National High School Basketball Tournament Winter Cup.

Her 24.7 points were the second-most by a player in the league, while her 18.9 boards per game led the division.

“Yussef is a tremendous young woman who joins us with great life experience,” Cummard said. “She’s a tireless worker who plays the game with athleticism and a physicality that cougar nation will love. She takes pride in dominating the paint. We are eager to get her with the team and working towards next season.”

The Cougars also received a commitment from 6-foot-3 College of Charleston transfer Lara Rohkohl, as On3 first reported Wednesday morning.

A native of Hannover, Germany, Rohkohl averaged 10.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.5 steals per game in 29.2 minutes last year for the Cougars, whom she helped to 25-8 record and second-place finish in the CAA.

The rising senior spent two seasons at College of Charleston after beginning her career at Central Connecticut, where she earned All-Northeast Conference rookie team honors while averaging 7.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in 28 games, including 25 starts.

She also went to high school in Vermont, she revealed in a video with Central Connecticut during her freshman season in which she also showed off her vertical leap by touching the rim.

“Basketball-wise, I look up to Dennis Rodman, because he’s a beast on the court and he was hustling for every ball,” said Rohkohl, who set a Charleston single-season record with 148 offensive rebounds. “I want to do that on the floor.”

The newcomers join a returning core led by Big 12 reigning freshman of the year Delaney Gibb, who has already re-committed to Cummard following the firing of former coach Amber Whiting; returning starters Marya Hudgins, Brinley Cannon and Kambree Barber; and former starter Arielle Mackey-Williams, who started in 24 of 54 games before missing the 2023-24 and 2024-25 season with two separate knee injuries.