Arizona’s Tara Manumaleuga, Marta Garcia and Mara Mote enter transfer portal

Arizona sophomore Tara Manumaleuga and freshman Marta Garcia have entered the transfer portal, sources confirmed. The news was first reported by WBBBlog.com.

We later learned that sophomore Mara Mote intends to transfer as well.

The moves don’t come as a surprise as they hardly played this season and it was unlikely next season would have been much different. Manumaleuga, a 5-foot-10 shooting guard from Australia, averaged 1.1 points in 4.8 minutes across eight games.

Garcia, a 6-foot-3 post from Spain, averaged 3.6 minutes across five games and battled a leg injury during the second half of the season. She was highly-regarded coming to Arizona and starred for the same club team—Segle XXI—as Helena Pueyo.

Mote, a 5-foot-11 sophomore from Latvia, played 48 minutes all season.

While entering the portal does not necessarily mean they are leaving, their departures would open up a trio of scholarships for Arizona to add to the 2021-22 roster or, more likely, roll over to the 2022 recruiting class. (Or both if the scholarships are used on graduate transfers.)

The Wildcats have three incoming 2021 recruits—Gisela Sanchez, Aaronette Vonleh and Anna Gret Asi—as well as Vanderbilt transfer Koi Love, a double-double machine that should help replace Trinity Baptiste.

So far their 2022 class only consists of five-star guard Kailyn Gilbert, but is expected to feature several highly-ranked players when all is said and done.

Here’s what Arizona’s scholarship count looks like now. (Note that women’s basketball programs are allowed to carry 15 scholarship players and Sam Thomas does not count toward that total because she is a returning senior.)

1. Cate Reese
2. Helena Pueyo
3. Bendu Yeaney
4. Shaina Pellington
5. Lauren Ware
6. Semaj Smith
7. Madi Conner
8. Aaronette Vonleh
9. Gisela Sanchez
10. Anna Gret Asi
11. Derin Erdogan
12. Koi Love