Exploring the history of South Carolina’s path to women’s basketball greatness
The two-time national champion South Carolina women’s basketball team has risen to prominence in the sport because of recent history.
But 100 years ago, it was a different story.
No varsity women’s basketball team existed at the school until 1974, but a group of students learned the sport in 1922 and began to find teams from other schools to play against.
The early days of women’s basketball featured games of six-on-six, with no more than three players from either team being allowed to cross halfcourt.
In a world before Title IX, the opportunities for women in sports were scarce. Beyond that, it wasn’t mandated for the university to admit women into the school until 1893 — 92 years after it was founded.
But over time, as the opportunities for women and popularity of the sport increased, South Carolina established its dominance in the college basketball world.
Here’s how the USC women’s basketball team — as many know it now — came to be.
Intramural and club play
South Carolina’s women’s sports teams in the early 1920s were part of the “Co-ed Athletics,” according to the 1923 Garnet and Black Yearbook. These sports included basketball, volleyball and tennis.
The first iteration of USC women’s basketball was the Pullets, a team formed in 1922.
A pullet is a young hen, which played off of the “Gamecock” nickname used in other sports at the time.
The Pullets played against teams from other schools and also each other. The team began wearing its own uniforms in 1925, according to USC Athletics historical documents.
That same year, the squad became the first women’s sports team at the University of South Carolina to travel out of state to play games, according to USC. The Pullets, which finished the season 5-7 that year, made a five-day trip to play against Fredericksburg, Westhampton, Farmville and William & Mary.
The Pullets stopped playing other schools in 1930, and instead played against other students at the school. The women competed by classes — freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.
South Carolina began playing intra-school tournaments in 1936 among sorority and non-sorority groups through the Women’s Athletic Association, according to USC. The WAA was founded at USC to foster athletic competition among the women at the school, and the teams competed to win the Carolina Championship Cup.
The WAA spawned into what’s now the school’s intramural sports.
The Pullets continued into the 1960s, and a women’s basketball club team was formed in 1967, according to records kept by USC.
Carolina Chicks
Before South Carolina competed in the NCAA, it played in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which began in 1971.
Title IX was passed the following year, but the AIAW, according to USC documents, was intended to provide equal participation between women and varsity men’s sports programs in the NCAA.
The team changed its name to the Carolina Chicks in 1970, before it started playing under the AIAW.
In its early years, the squad was part of the school’s physical education department in the student affairs department. The original Chicks team consisted of 13 players and raised its own money to compete.
The team gained traction in 1971 when it competed in the AAU Women’s National Championship in Iowa. The Chicks didn’t win the tournament, but they were considered one of the best teams in the region at the time.
They played two games in 1973 in Carolina Coliseum as the opening part of a doubleheader with the men’s team.
The team was recognized as varsity in 1974 and kept the Carolina Chicks nickname for three more years. Pam Backhaus was the team’s first coach.
Transition to the NCAA
USC adopted the “Lady Gamecocks” name in 1977, when Pam Parsons took over as head coach. Parsons remained the head coach until she resigned in 1981.
The team had four head coaches from 1974-1984, going 199-127 in that span.
The Lady Gamecocks joined the NCAA in 1983 after the AIAW disbanded. That same year, they began competing in the Metro Conference.
Nancy Wilson took over as coach in 1984. Under Wilson, South Carolina reached the NCAA tournament five times, going as far as the Sweet 16. She guided USC to four 20-win seasons.
The team began competing in the SEC in 1991 and struggled mightily.
South Carolina never won more than five SEC games in a season under Wilson and also never made it back to the NCAA tournament. She left in 1997.
The Lady Gamecocks went 231-149 under Wilson, and that win total was the most by a South Carolina women’s basketball coach for 20 years.
Susan Walvius took the reins in 1997, and the SEC struggles continued for a few years.
The team managed 10 SEC wins in 2002, tied for second most in the conference, and made the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. The next season, the team went 23-8 — 9-5 in the conference — before losing in the second round of the Big Dance.
USC had a 165-160 record under Walvius, making the WNIT in each of her final three seasons before her departure in 2008.
The Championship Era
It’s not exactly clear what year South Carolina dropped the “Lady” from the Lady Gamecocks name, but it happened sometime in the early 2000s and prior to Walvius’ departure. And in 2008, the Gamecocks welcomed a new head coach.
USC hired Dawn Staley from Temple and became a powerhouse in relative short order.
In some ways, though, South Carolina had to wait its turn.
UConn women’s basketball, led by Geno Auriemma, was the team to beat at the time. The Huskies won five national championships before Staley’s arrival, and six more after she was hired — including during her first season.
It didn’t take long for Staley’s Gamecocks to be competitive. It took three seasons for the team to finish over .500, but the team made the WNIT in Staley’s third year.
Staley reached 25 wins for the first time in 2012, and also brought the Gamecocks to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003. USC hasn’t missed the tournament since, excluding the 2020 tournament that was canceled due to COVID-19.
South Carolina won the SEC regular season for the first time in 2014, and took the squad to the Sweet 16. That same year, A’ja Wilson — the No. 1 prospect in the country at the time — stayed home and committed to USC.
The next season, the team went 34-3, won the SEC again and made it to the Final Four.
The Gamecocks lost in the Sweet 16 in 2016, but the program rose to the next level the following year.
Staley, Wilson and South Carolina brought home the first national championship in program history, defeating Mississippi State 67-55.
Two years later, the Gamecocks brought in the best recruiting class in the country, which featured Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, Laeticia Amihere and Olivia Thompson.
South Carolina reached the Final Four in 2021, narrowly losing to Stanford. But the loss catalyzed the squad for its run next year.
The Gamecocks finished the 2021-22 season with a dominant 35-2 record and beat five of its six opponents en route to the second national championship.
The opponent in the national championship? Auriemma’s Huskies.
With the national attention garnered by the team’s success, Staley has become one of the biggest voices in women’s basketball.
She’s spoken about such issues as racial injustice and Brittney Griner’s incarceration. She’s also shown her support for the WNBA.
The inaugural WNBA season took place 12 years before Staley arrived at South Carolina, with four Gamecocks making it to that level. But Staley has coached eight players who have made the WNBA, seven of whom were first-round picks.
As the No. 1 team in the nation with four of its five starters from last year returning, South Carolina will look to repeat as national champions for the first time in program history.
