SOUTH BEND ― When Malaya Cowles steps to the free-throw line, she tries to clear her thoughts. She tries to block the nerves that can come when stranded on the island that is the charity stripe.
Cowles tries not to let the pressure of achieving a dream she’s had since she started playing basketball in sixth grade overwhelm her. Sometimes, all is quiet in her head.
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Yet sometimes her late father, Grant Cowles, comes to mind. She remembers the advice he often gave her when they practiced free throws together.
“Get it up like a rainbow,” Grant would tell Malaya.
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Grant Cowles died at the age of 51 in August of 2021, just five months after Malaya made her collegiate debut for Wake Forest, a university less than an hour away from the family’s hometown of Wilkesboro. If there was ever a reminder of the resolve and character Malaya has, she never sat out when the Demon Deacons’ season rolled around just three months afterward.
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Now more than four years removed and playing in her final collegiate season as a graduate transfer for Notre Dame women’s basketball, Cowles said it’s a balancing act trying to play in honor of her father’s death without letting the emotions that come with it drag her down.
“It’s a heavy weight for me to bear, because he was honestly my best friend,” Cowles said. “I play for myself a lot.”
When senior KK Bransford went down with a right knee injury in the second quarter of the Irish’s December 11 game vs. Morehead State, she was ruled out indefinitely. At that time, Cowles was the first off Notre Dame’s bench each game, but Cowles was elevated to a starting role once Bransford was ruled out indefinitely.
She made the first start of her Irish career against James Madison December 14, just her eighth game with Notre Dame after missing the first two contests of the year due to injury. Head coach Niele Ivey said Cowles’ presence, both on the court and off of it, made the decision easy.
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Her teammates are taking notice, too.
“She’s so sweet, but she can be an absolute dog, too,” junior Kelly Ratigan said. “I think that makes it so much better.”
Despite that game against the Dukes being arguably the most important of Cowles’ collegiate career, she said the Irish’s 61-59 win over Southern California November 21, played in front of a crowd of 8,342 fans, was Cowles’ ‘Welcome to Notre Dame’ moment.
“I was on a D-I level, but I needed to be at that higher level,” Cowles said.
While Cowles’ 19 minutes against the Trojans that night didn’t go as she wanted them to, she has begun to come into her own since then. In the six games since, Cowles has averaged 10.8 points, six rebounds and 2.5 steals per game, including four double-digit scoring performances and a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double vs. Florida State December 7.
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In Notre Dame’s most recent game against Bellarmine December 21, a 110-38 win, Cowles finished with 10 points. Yet it’s her personality that her teammates have latched onto most.
“She’s like a big bear,” junior Hannah Hidalgo said. “She brings a different type of comedic sense to the locker room.”
Notre Dame forward Malaya Cowles (5) is substituted out of the game during a NCAA women’s basketball game against Morehead State at Purcell Pavilion on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in South Bend.
Cowles describes herself as quiet but goofy, the latter side especially brought out around her teammates. She didn’t have any trouble breaking out of her shell quickly into her tenure with Notre Dame, even after spending her entire life in North Carolina before the one-year move to South Bend.
“We all want the same thing ― we want to win,” Cowles said. “Having that energy and passion for the game that we love, I think that’s what drives our connection.”
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Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleSmedley03.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Get to know Notre Dame women’s basketball grad student Malaya Cowles
