Stanford Women's Basketball Loses Former Top Recruit to Rival Cal in Portal

Carly Amborn is taking her talents just across the Bay Area.

Feb 7, 2024; Berkeley, California, USA; The Cal logo is seen at center court of Haas Pavilion before the game between the California Golden Bears and the USC Trojans. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images | Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

The final Stanford women's basketball player that entered the transfer portal has found a new home. Only a couple of weeks after the max exodus began, with several key players entering the transfer portal, each of the seven players has found a new place to play for next season.

Lara Somfai ended up joining TCU, Harper Peterson signed on with Tennessee and Nunu Agara announced that she would be transferring to Maryland just a couple of days ago.

The final player to choose a new destination is freshman guard Carly Amborn, who spent just one season on The Farm, and is now transferring to Stanford's biggest rival, Cal.

A four-star recruit coming out of high school, Amborn played a limited role for the Cardinal in her true freshman season, appearing in only 16 games and averaging 2.0 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.3 assists per contest. Amborn's best game for Stanford was in a 62-60 win over Colorado State in November, where she recorded a season-high of nine points while flashing her talent.

A standout at San Domenico High School in Larkspur, Amborn enjoyed an accolade-filled high school career, earning honors such as multiple league Player of the Year awards, multiple All-Metro First-team selections and helping her school win its first section title in 2024. She was also an elite tennis player, even garnering some college interest, but she opted to focus on basketball.

Amborn also boasts experience at the international level, playing for the United States in the trials for the 2023 USA Women's U16 National Team and the 2024 USA Women’s U17 National Team. Although she did not make the team, Amborn's talent earned her serious consideration and proves how high of a ceiling she has moving forward.

For Stanford, losing Amborn is a big loss, especially considering the current state of the roster. Losing over half their roster, with only a few players from this past season remaining, Amborn was looking at a bigger role while providing some security at the guard position.

Now the Cardinal, once a perennial top-25 program and consistently in March Madness, are scrambling to not only figure out what to do at guard, but what to do about the overall roster, and hoping they can field a viable team for next season. If they don't they'll be looking at a third straight season without an NCAA tournament berth, a feat that was unfathomable for nearly four decades.

Cal is getting a rising star in Amborn, and while she is heading to a rival, she goes to a program where she has a very good chance of contributing right away. Going 21-15 overall and making the WBIT quarterfinals, the Golden Bears are on the rise, and see Amborn as the missing piece to their puzzle for success.

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