One and done: Notre Dame grad transfer Maya Dodson denied 6th year of eligibility by NCAA

SOUTH BEND — Maya Dodson’s Notre Dame women’s basketball career appears over after one season.

Dodson’s mom, Karen Dodson, confirmed Thursday afternoon that the “NCAA denied” the waiver her daughter was seeking to play one more collegiate season.

“Can confirm the NCAA denied our appeal,” Notre Dame spokesperson Josh Bates added later in a text message.

Dodson, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team selection last month, could not immediately be reached for comment, but tweeted Thursday that “it is time to move on.”

“Thank you Notre Dame for everything,” Dodson said in her tweet.

“I knew coming here would be special, but this year was more than I imagined,” Dodson wrote. “The love from the beginning was unreal, and I have so much gratitude for being able to play here. To my teammates, I love you all and cannot wait to see what you accomplish next year. To the coaches, thank you for believing in me and always being there no matter what. To the support staff, thank you for having an immensely positive impact on my experience. To the fans, your unwavering support in my return to collegiate basketball I will never forget.”

Dodson helped power the Irish to a 24-9 record and an advancement to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in her lone season aboard.

The 6-foot-3 grad student forward was voted by league coaches to their 10-member All-ACC first team as well their five-player all-defensive unit.

Dodson averaged 12.6 points, second for ND to Olivia Miles’ 13.7, in addition to team-leading figures of 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks while starting all 33 games. Her blocked-shot figure placed her eighth in the country.

Dodson’s departure follows backups Sam Brunelle, Anaya Peoples and Abby Prohaska all announcing last week that they were entering the transfer portal.

Just four other Irish scholarship players who were active at the end of the season remain — although they are all starters in Miles, Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld and Dara Mabrey.

► More:Notre Dame women lose popular reserves Brunelle, Peoples and Proshaska to transfer portal

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Also on the roster in 2021-22 were sophomore forward Nat Marshall, who underwent knee surgery and missed the final 16 games; senior Katlyn Gilbert, who never played after Dec. 19 and was out for “personal reasons”; and a pair of walk-ons in Trinity Cha and Sarah Cernugel.

Two-time Ohio Ms. Basketball KK Bransford is slated to come aboard this coming season.

More than 1,000 players around the country are reportedly in the transfer portal, with Irish coach Niele Ivey expected to explore her options there to replenish the roster.

Meanwhile, the reason for the denial of Dodson’s waiver was not immediately clear.

She competed for three seasons at Stanford (including just nine games in her third season due to injury) before sitting out the 2020-21 season and winding up at ND for 2021-22.

Nearly all players around the nation have been granted a fifth season of eligibility under the NCAA’s COVID-related policy.

What’s different for Dodson is that her fifth season would’ve spanned six years overall, although other players have had careers that have spanned at least seven years, sometimes at multiple schools.

Further, when Dodson sat out in 2020-21, she even cited the pandemic as one of her reasons.

Ivey had expressed hope last month that Dodson would be granted another season.