Achol Akot, who spent the 2025-26 season with Oklahoma State, announced her commitment to head coach Courtney Banghart and UNC out of the transfer portal Friday. Akot will have one year of eligibility remaining.

Before Oklahoma State, Akot spent the first two seasons of her collegiate career at UCF. She made 36 combined starts across those two seasons with modest success, averaging 6.6 points per game as a sophomore. But the 6-foot-1 forward from Ottawa, Canada flourished with Oklahoma State, starting all 34 of the Cowgirls’ games and posting career highs in points (12.4 per game), rebounds (7.2 per game), steals (1.4 per game) and blocks (0.9 per game). Akot’s 63.3 field goal percentage was also a career best.

With Akot in tow, Oklahoma State won 24 games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021. The Cowgirls beat Princeton in the first round before losing to eventual national champions UCLA in the Round of 32. Akot scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win against the Tigers (ironically, Banghart’s former team) and scored 23 points in the loss to UCLA.

Akot is the first player to commit to UNC out of the transfer portal in the current cycle. The Tar Heels have already lost three players to the portal: Lanie Grant (who has since committed to TCU), Elina Aarnisalo and Taliyah Henderson. Starters Indya Nivar and Nyla Harris are out of collegiate eligibility, leaving Ciera Toomey as the only UNC year-end starter set to return for the 2026-27 season.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Jessie Alcheh

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.

Related Stories
‹
Virginia Transfer Gabby White, Daughter of UNC Assistant Joanne Aluka-White, Commits to Tar Heels
Virginia guard Gabby White, who spent her freshman season with the Cavaliers, announced her commitment to join UNC out of the transfer portal Tuesday morning. View this post on Instagram White has strong local connections. A star at Seaforth High School in Pittsboro, White scored more than 1,900 career points and grabbed more than 1,100 […]
Syracuse Transfer Sophie Burrows Announces Commitment to UNC
Sophie Burrows, who spent her first three college seasons at Syracuse, committed to UNC out of the transfer portal Saturday. View this post on Instagram Originally from Australia, Burrows is an ACC veteran, having started 65 games across three seasons for the Orange. After earning four starts as a true freshman in the 2023-24 season, […]
UNC's Elina Aarnisalo Entering Transfer Portal After 1 Year in Chapel Hill
Sophomore guard Elina Aarnisalo, who transferred to UNC for the 2025-26 season after spending her freshman year at UCLA, is entering the transfer portal once again. According to Talia Goodman of On3 Sports, Aarnisalo entered the portal with a “Do Not Contact” tag. BREAKING: North Carolina’s Elina Aarnisalo has entered the transfer portal with a […]
UNC Freshman Taliyah Henderson to Enter Transfer Portal
Taliyah Henderson, who spent her freshman season with UNC, has announced her intention to enter the transfer portal when it opens Monday, April 6. Henderson made the announcement on social media Thursday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/yQoYiWcE8a — Taliyah Henderson (@taliyah_hend3) April 2, 2026 Henderson was rated as a five-star recruit and the No. 27 overall player in […]
UNC Sophomore Guard Lanie Grant to Enter Transfer Portal
Sophomore guard Lanie Grant, who helped lead UNC to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 2025 and 2026, will enter the NCAA transfer portal when it opens Monday, April 6. Grant made the announcement on social media Wednesday evening. Proud of everything we accomplished over the past two years with my teammates and coaches, and so […]
UCLA Transfer Elina Aarnisalo Signs With UNC Women's Basketball
Guard Elina Aarnisalo, who spent her freshman season at UCLA, signed with head coach Courtney Banghart and the UNC women’s basketball program Tuesday morning. Aarnisalo has three seasons of collegiate eligibility remaining. Welcome to Blue Heaven 🙌 Excited to have Elina join the squad! pic.twitter.com/YmdCzPCHBs — Carolina Women's Basketball (@uncwbb) April 15, 2025 Aarnisalo, originally […]
UNC's Trayanna Crisp Enters Transfer Portal After 1 Season in Chapel Hill
After spending her junior season with the UNC women’s basketball program, wing Trayanna Crisp has entered her name back into the transfer portal. Crisp transferred to Carolina in the 2024 offseason after playing her first two seasons at Arizona State. Crisp appeared in 28 games this season with one start, averaging 5.6 points, 1.5 rebounds […]
Stanford Transfer Indya Nivar Commits to UNC Women's Basketball
UNC head coach Courtney Banghart’s busy offseason continued on Sunday, as she and the Tar Heels earned a third commitment out of the transfer portal: Stanford guard Indya Nivar. Nivar, who will have three years of eligibility in Chapel Hill, announced her decision on Instagram. View this post on Instagram Nivar played just one season […]
Iowa State Transfer Lexi Donarski Commits to UNC Women's Basketball
Lexi Donarski, who was named the 2021-2022 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year while playing for Iowa State, has committed to the UNC women’s basketball program out of the transfer portal. Donarski’s hometown newspaper, the La Crosse (WI) Tribune, first reported the story before Donarski shared her decision on social media Monday night. View […]
UNC's Kennedy Todd-Williams Enters Transfer Portal; 2nd Tar Heel to Enter in 24 Hours
Kennedy Todd-Williams, a starting junior wing on the UNC women’s basketball team and cornerstone of the 2020 recruiting class, has entered the transfer portal. Todd-Williams announced the decision on her Instagram page. View this post on Instagram Todd-Williams is the second Tar Heel to enter the portal in the span of less than 24 hours, […]
›