Hodgepodge of Women's Basketball

38 straight wins, three straight SEC Championships, back-to-back SEC Tournament Championships, four consecutive Final Four appearances, and three of the last seven National Championships deserves a little retrospective. Below we are going to look back at the top five games from the 2023-2024 season, catchup with stats and highlights of current Gamecock alumni in the WNBA, and look ahead at the known 2024-2025 scheduled and some names Gamecock fans need to be familiar with in the next recruiting cycles.

5. Carolina v. Notre Dame: Paris, France November 6, 2023

The first of 38. South Carolina put the world on notice in the second and third quarter of what they were capable of doing. USC outscored ND 50-24 over the second and third quarters. The highlight of the dominating performance was the coming out party of MiLaysia Fulwiley. Fulwiley came off the bench and set social media late in the second quarter with one of the plays of the college basketball season. Kamilla Cardoso picked up right where Aliyah Boston and A'ja Wilson left off as dominant forces in the paint for the Gamecocks. Cardoso opened the season with 20 and 15.

4. Carolina v. North Carolina: Columbia, SC March 24, 2024- NCAA Second Round

This wasn't a close game, the Gamecocks erased any doubt early with one of the most complete halves of basketball by anyone for the entire season. The Tar Heels found themselves down 56-19 before they could limp back to the locker room. Carolina knocked down eight 3's in the first half, with three coming in a 60-second stretch just before halftime. The Gamecock bench outscored UNC 51-41, led by Fulwiley with 20.

3. Carolina at LSU: Baton Rouge, LA January 25, 2024.

LSU had built their team with NIL offers thru the portal. They purchased the top player in the portal the prior two offseasons and the highly overrated Hailey Van Lith in prior cycle. The Tigers had no depth and hadn't beaten the Gamecocks in the last 15 meetings. LSU rode a raucous crowd to fast a start, but the Gamecocks kept the game in arms length and ultimately wore the Tigers down with superior depth. Chloe Kitts kept the Gamecocks around early, she ended up leading all Gamecocks with 14 points, most of which came in the first half. Unlike, the prior season's NCAA Tournament, LSU wasn't going to get a championship in 2024 without beating the Gamecocks. They didn't in either meeting before bowing out in the Elite 8. The Baton Rouge game was a better win as it came on the road.

2. Carolina vs. Tennessee: Greenville, SC March 9, 2024

For whatever reason, Tennessee played South Carolina has tough as anyone all season. It was no fluke either in Greenville. In the two school's first meeting in Knoxville, the game was tied going into the fourth quarter. A few week later in Columbia, the Lady Vols trailed by three with 4:53 remaining. South Carolina would go onto to win both of this games but they were tougher than most. Game three looked like it would be a laugher in the second quarter but the Vols clawed back and took the lead with 25 seconds remaining. Two missed free throws and a bizarre defensive strategy opened the door for the shot of the season and Carolina's only buzzer beater win of the 23-24 perfect season. This was closest USC came to losing in 2023-2024.

1. Carolina vs. Iowa: Cleveland, OH April 7, 2024

It wasn't the closest game or the best game the Gamecocks played all year, but it's the only choice. South Carolina closed out Iowa to avenge last season's upset loss, finish Caitlin Clark's college career in the most watched women's basketball game of all-time, and complete an undefeated season for the Gamecocks third national title. Tessa Johnson burst onto the national scene with 19 points to lead all Gamecocks.

South Carolina will continue to play 16 SEC games. The Gamecocks play a home-and-home with Texas and play each of the other SEC teams once. The dates for the SEC contests haven't been announced. Set dates for the non-conference schedule include:

vs. Michigan in Vegas on November 4

vs. NC State in Charlotte on November 10

at UCLA on November 25

vs. Duke in Columbia on December 5 as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge

vs. Iowa State in Fort Myers as part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off on November 28

vs. Purdue in Fort Myers on November 30.

Carolina will travel to Clemson and host UConn this season but those dates haven't been set. That's 24 games known. Dawn usually has the Gamecocks in 29 games total in the regular season. Anytime Carolina travels to the west coast, Staley usually tries to pick up at least two games, they are going to UCLA already. The Gamecocks could also host Bowling Green in a return game for last season's trip to the Buckeye State. East Carolina, Memphis, and Charleston Southern are teams that could appear on the schedule. Staley traditionally also likes to schedule at least one game with a HBCU program. We will keep you updated when any further games are announced.

This is pretty much a who's who of high school talent for the next two seasons. It helps to have a full trophy case and rock star head coach but hopefully the other big 5 sports will recruit at this level at some point. Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall, Sania Feagin, and Sakima Walker will exhaust their eligibility after the 2024-2025 season. Raven Johnson will be eligible for the WNBA Draft after next season. That's a lot of roster spots coming open. We expect the Gamecocks to bring in 3-4 high school players in this class. The list below isn't comprehensive of every target on the board, but it is a list that we can confirm have offers from Dawn Staley and staff.

2025 Targets:

Aaliyah Chavez - 5'9 point from Lubbock, Texas. She's the top prospect in the country and is going to tough to pry from the Lonestar State. Texas Tech is believed to be front runner with Texas. South Carolina was included in her top 10 so there is still a shot.

Jasmine Davidson - 6'1 guard out of Oregon. Ranked #3 in the HoopGurlz Top 100. (All rankings are from HoopGurlz). The Gamecocks are in her final 8. Davidson does not appear to be an attention seeking recruit. She announced her top 8 on the local news. Pulling a major high school recruit from the west coast is about the only thing Dawn Staley hasn't done at SC.

Aliyah Crump - 6'1 guard from Minnesota. Crump saw Tessa Johnson's star turn in the national championship game. Crump is also extremely limited in the information she leeks regarding her recruitment. SC has offered but she hasn't released her finalists yet. 4th ranked player.

Divine Bourrage - 5'11 guard from Iowa.. Bourrage as teammate committed to Iowa, but that commitment came before Lisa Bluder's retirement. Iowa is the perceived leader for their state's player of the year regardless. 5th ranked player

Agot Makeer - 6'1 wing from Ontario, Canada. Canadian players are notoriously tough to follow in recruiting due to lack of information. Makeer is from the same school as former UConn standout Aaliyah Edwards. South Carolina was in Makeer's top 12 that was released last week. 6th ranked player.

ZaKiyah Johnson - 5'11 guard from Kentucky. 7th ranked player. South Carolina offered Johnson back in 2022. She did not include the home state Wildcats in her top 12. Louisville might be the favorite but I wouldn't count out Carolina here.

Deniya Prawl - 6'0 guard out of Canada, by way of IMG Academy. 15th ranked player. I can find almost nothing about Prawl's recruitment.

Jaliya Davis - 6'2 forward from Kansas. Another earlier offer. Davis is ranked 16th but there hasn't been much to indicate that Carolina is actively recruiting her the way they are some others on this list.

Others will emerge but Carolina may have to hit the portal harder this upcoming season than what Dawn has done in the past. 2025 just doesn't have a bumper crop in the southeast and South Carolina doesn't have a single high school player ranked in the Top 100. North Carolina doesn't have a single player in the Top 50.

Tiffany Mitchell - Connecticut Sun: Mitchell has carved out a nice role as a veteran leader off the bench for the 14-4 Sun. She averages 4.4 ppg off of the bench and she leads the Sun's bench in total minutes.

Tyasha Harris - Connecticut Sun: Harris is the Sun's 3-point specialist. She's started all 18 games for Connecticut this season. 11.3 ppg, 3.2 apg, 38.5% 3-pt %. Best year of her career thus far.

Allisha Gray - Atlanta Dream: All-Star and Gold Medal winner Allisha Gray is having another fine season for the 7th-place Dream. She is averaging 15.1 ppg and is shooting 39% from the three.

Laeticia Amihere - Atlanta Dream: Amihere has appeared in nine games this season and is averaging .8 ppg and 1.4 boards a game.

A'ja Wilson - Las Vegas Aces: A'ja is on pace to add to her trophy case. She's averaging 28 ppg, 11.3 rbg, 2.5 apg, 1.3 spg, and 2.4 blocks. A'ja leads the WNBA in All-Star voting as well. The Aces started slow but are currently 10-6 and playing much better.

Aliyah Boston - Indiana Fever: It took Boston and Caitlin Clark a while to mesh. It's still a work in progress but the Fever are playing better and so is Boston. Aliyah is averaging 12.9 ppg and 8.3 rpg. Boston is shooting 41.7% from three.

Victaria Saxton - Indiana Fever: Victaria has appeared in six games this season for Indiana. Three minutes and two points are highs on the season.

Kamilla Cardoso - Chicago Sky: The Sky with Cardoso and former-rival Angel Reese, are a fun, improved team. Cardoso missed the first month of the season but has returned and played in 10 games averaging just under nine points a night. She second on the team pulling down 7.3 boards a night.

Mikiah Herbert Harrigan - Phoenix Mercury: Kiki has appeared in 12 games this season. She averages 8.1 minutes, 2.3 ppg, and one board a game.

Zia Cooke - LA Sparks: Zia has appeared in 15 games this season and is averaging 3.7 ppg in just over nine minutes a night.