Kate Koval keyed LSU women’s basketball’s win over Arkansas on Thursday. She tailed her sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 15 rebounds, 10 of which came on the defensive end.

On the defensive end, Koval stayed disciplined. She finished with five blocks and three steals to just one personal foul, often starting the Tigers’ transition game, which led to 15 points. According to head coach Kim Mulkey, Koval helped on defense when the Razorbacks ran sets to penetrate the paint.

“I thought Kate was solid,” Mulkey said. “Kate’s not going to get too high or too low. She’s going to be there to help you as a teammate when you get beat.”

Depending on who LSU is playing, according to Mulley, Koval and fellow forward Amiya Joyner will see their minutes fluctuate. Since Arkansas is a smaller team, she wanted to get both in at the same time to attack the paint on offense, but it presented a matchup problem on defense, facing a guard-heavy team.

“Kate’s going to start games for us,” Mulkey said. “She has started games for us. It just depends on who we’re playing. Offensively, I wanted both the bigs in the game together. They [the Razorbacks] would have had a hard time guarding that, but on the other hand, which one can go out and guard on the perimeter? That’s not a comfort zone for either [Amiya] or Kate.”

Koval transferred to LSU following a solid first year at Notre Dame, where she got plenty of action in the conference and NCAA Tournament. Now in a critical role for LSU, she’s found her stride.

“I think she’s the same player today that she was when we started in the SEC,” Mulkey said. “I was very pleased with Kate.”

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This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Key LSU women’s basketball transfers comes up big for the Tigers