<\/p>\n
The South Carolina Gamecocks made a deep run in the NCAA tournament last season. They made it to the national championship game, but came up short against the UConn Huskies. The program under Dawn Staley has grown into a powerhouse, especially in women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n
With another season on the horizon, several Gamecocks stars, including key returners like Chloe Kitts and Raven Johnson, joined the rising stars and transfers for a preseason photoshoot. On Thursday, South Carolina\u2019s official Instagram account shared glimpses from the shoot.<\/p>\n
Maryam Dauda, Johnson, Kitts, Adhel Tac, Ta\u2019Niya Latson, Ayla McDowell and Madina Okot were all captured in candid shots handling the basketball on the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cFace cards all day\u2026\u201d the post was captioned.<\/p>\n
Kitts was one of the key players in South Carolina\u2019s roster last season. She averaged career highs: 10.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. She earned several honors: SEC Tournament MVP (2025), All-America honorable mention (AP & USBWA, 2025) and NCAA Regional MVP. Johnson also played an important supporting role throughout the season.<\/p>\n
South Carolina bolsters their roster through offseason moves<\/p>\n
South Carolina scored two major transfer portal moves in the offseason. With the addition of Ta\u2019Niya Latson (from Florida State) and Madina Okot (from Mississippi State), Dawn Staley has received players who can contribute significantly this season. On the flip side, the team lost MiLaysia Fulwiley to the portal. Fulwiley was a key player off the bench for them last season.<\/p>\n
In other news, forward Ashlyn Watkins will not play during the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also want the younger ones who look up to me to know that tough times don\u2019t define you, they make you stronger,\u201d Watkins said<\/a>. \u201cWith everything that\u2019s happened this year, I\u2019m going to take some time off to focus on myself, my community, my faith, and my family, so that I can grow as an individual and attempt to master this journey of life. I\u2019m so grateful for my coaches, the USC medical team, my teammates, and everyone who\u2019s supported me along the way. For now, I\u2019ll be cheering on my team and working hard to come back even stronger in the 2026-27 season.\u201d<\/p>\n Incoming freshmen like Agot Makeer (from Canada) and Ayla McDowell (from Brazil) will join the returning core of Chloe Kitts, Raven Johnson, Joyce Edwards, Maryam Dauda, and Adhel Tac, among others next season.<\/p>\n Read More News:<\/p>\n South Carolina HC Dawn Staley Makes Loyalty Clear As Jalen Hurts\u2019 Philadelphia Eagles Take On Dallas Cowboys In NFL\u00a0Season\u00a0Opener<\/a><\/p>\n Months After Transfer From Dawn Staley\u2019s South Carolina, MiLaysia Fulwiley Makes Feelings Very Clear On Reason Behind LSU Move<\/a><\/p>\n LOOK: Dawn Staley Steals the Spotlight at South Carolina\u2019s Week 2 Matchup against SCST <\/a><\/p>\n College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in college football<\/a>, men\u2019s college basketball<\/a>, women\u2019s college basketball<\/a>, and college baseball!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The South Carolina Gamecocks made a deep run in the NCAA tournament last season. They made it to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[101669,402,4,54592,101668,983,398,400,401,15134,72670,99],"class_list":["post-169301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-and-more-turn-up-the-heat-in-preseason-photoshoot","tag-basketball","tag-breaking-news","tag-college-sports-network","tag-in-pics-south-carolina-stars-chloe-kitts","tag-local-news","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-newsbreak","tag-raven-johnson","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}