The procrastinator’s guide to the 2022-23 South Carolina women’s basketball season

Jeremiah Holloway
Tracy Glantz/tglantz@thestate.com

South Carolina women’s basketball enters the season as the reigning national champion and the No. 1 team in the country.

USC has won two national titles under head coach Dawn Staley, and the roster features a few potential WNBA players and a plethora of McDonald’s All-Americans.

The program gave fans a first look at the team with an exhibition game last week against Benedict, but the season officially tips off at 8:30 p.m. Monday at Colonial Life Arena against East Tennessee State. Also Monday: The team will celebrate its latest national championship in a ceremony that’s set to begin at 8:10 p.m.

Just plugging in for the new year? Here’s your guide to the Gamecocks’ 2022-23 season.

Who’s gone

Last year’s starting point guard, Destanni Henderson, was drafted to the WNBA after the season. She was the team’s second-leading scorer and leader in assists.

Saniya Rivers transferred to N.C. State after her freshman year. Eniya Russell transferred after her sophomore year and is now at Kentucky.

Destiny Littleton and Elysa Wesolek transferred after their senior years, with Littleton going to Southern Cal and Wesolek joining North Florida.

LeLe Grissett completed her eligibility last season as a graduate senior.

Who’s back

Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal and Victaria Saxton are the team’s returning starters. Boston enters the season as the reigning National Player of the Year and Final Four Most Outstanding Player. She, Cooke, Beal and Saxton all made preseason watch lists at their respective positions.

Laeticia Amihere, Kamilla Cardoso, Bree Hall and Sania Feagin are the key reserves returning. Amihere and Cardoso were the two leading bench scorers during the championship season. Hall and Feagin started in last week’s exhibition game, as Hall had a team-high 19 points and Feagin posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Raven Johnson was limited to two games last year due to a knee injury, and she returns as a redshirt sophomore. Former walk-on Olivia Thompson is back for her senior season.

Who’s new

Ashlyn Watkins (forward) and Talaysia Cooper (guard) are the team’s freshmen. Both had strong showings in the exhibition game against Benedict, with 11 points and nine rebounds each. Cooper added six assists and six steals to her stat line.

Kierra Fletcher (guard) is the lone transfer, coming in from Georgia Tech. She averaged 9.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 113 games as a Yellow Jacket. She is currently working her way back from a foot injury that she got last season.

Annual theme

“DNA” was announced as the team’s theme before the preseason game. It’s an acronym for “Dreams, Nets, Assets” and is intended to represent the team’s status as a force in college basketball both on the court and in the name, image and likeness space.

USC has given itself annual themes since the 2012-13 season.

Projected SEC finish

South Carolina was picked to win the SEC this season by the media and by coaches.

USC won the conference regular-season title two of the last three seasons. That’s happened six times under Staley.

The Gamecocks reached the SEC tournament championship game last season but lost to the Kentucky Wildcats. USC won the two tournaments prior to last year’s defeat.

Schedule outlook

South Carolina has six games against ranked opponents and 10 against teams that made last year’s NCAA tournament.

Many of the team’s most challenging games are on the road. The Gamecocks visit No. 17 Maryland and No. 2 Stanford in November. It also plays No. 23 South Dakota State in Sioux Falls, though it’s technically a neutral-site game.

USC will later go to Hartford, Connecticut to play No. 6 UConn in February in a break from SEC play. The team’s last road game comes against No. 5 Tennessee.

The toughest stretch of the schedule occurs in early February. Before the game against the Huskies, USC hosts the Kentucky Wildcats — last year’s SEC tournament champion. After traveling to UConn, South Carolina plays another road game at Auburn and returns home to face No. 16 LSU.

The SEC tournament begins on March 1 in Greenville.

Initial Starting Five Projection

  • G Raven Johnson

  • G Zia Cooke

  • F Brea Beal

  • F Victaria Saxton

  • F Aliyah Boston

This can get tricky, particularly at point guard.

Staley, after the team’s practice Friday, said Johnson and Fletcher could play on a minutes restriction, and Johnson has received more reps at the position than Fletcher so far.

Saxton did not play in the exhibition, but is expected to return this week.

The team started Cooke and Hall at the guard positions in the exhibition game, with Feagin joining Beal and Boston in the frontcourt. Amihere mostly played point guard but ran with the second unit.

Staley said Feagin did a “180” in her development over the offseason, which could lead to more minutes. Hall played 24 minutes in Monday’s exhibition and scored 19 points, tied most with Cooke.

USC WBB 2022-23 SCHEDULE

  • Nov. 7: home vs. ETSU, 8:30 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Nov. 11: at Maryland, 6 p.m. (ESPN2)

  • Nov. 17: at Clemson, 7 p.m. (ACC Network)

  • Nov. 20: at Stanford, 3 p.m. (ABC)

  • Nov. 22: at Cal Poly, 8 p.m. (TV/stream is TBD)

  • Nov. 27: home vs. Hampton, noon (SEC Network Plus)

  • Nov. 29: home vs. UCLA, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Dec. 3: home vs. Memphis, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

  • Dec. 11: home vs. Liberty, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

  • Dec. 15: neutral vs. South Dakota State, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

  • Dec. 18: home vs. Charleston Southern, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

  • Dec 21: home vs. Coastal Carolina, noon (SEC Network Plus)

  • Dec. 29: home vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m. (SEC Network or ESPN2)

  • Jan. 2: at Georgia, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Jan. 5: home vs. Auburn, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

  • Jan. 8: at Mississippi State, 1 p.m. (SEC Network or ESPN2)

  • Jan. 12: at Kentucky, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

  • Jan. 15: home vs. Missouri, 1 p.m. (SEC Network or ESPN2)

  • Jan. 19: at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Jan. 22: home vs. Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SEC Network or ESPN2)

  • Jan. 29: at Alabama, 1 p.m. (SEC Network or ESPN2)

  • Feb. 2: home vs. Kentucky, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Feb. 5: at UConn, noon (Fox)

  • Feb. 9: at Auburn, 8 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

  • Feb. 12: home vs. LSU, 2 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Feb. 16: home vs. Florida, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

  • Feb. 19: at Ole Miss, 4 p.m. (SEC Network)

  • Feb. 23: at Tennessee, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

  • Feb. 26: home vs. Georgia, noon (SEC Network or ESPN2)

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