COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) \u2014 Three-time WNBA MVP A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s South Carolina No. 22 jersey was hung in the rafters Sunday at Colonial Life Arena, her college home court that already features a statue of the program\u2019s all-time leading scorer outside the main entrance.<\/p>\n
Wilson spent the weekend around coach Dawn Staley and the current group of Gamecocks players, who beat Auburn 83-66<\/a>. Wilson spoke to the players at practice Saturday and had a question-and-answer session alongside Staley before both sat courtside that night as South Carolina\u2019s men played No. 13 Texas A&M<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was a fitting honor for Wilson, the 6-foot-5 prep wonder who became a three-time Southeastern Conference player of the year for Staley\u2019s Gamecocks.<\/p>\n The pinnacle came in 2017 when Wilson helped South Carolina to its first national title.<\/p>\n Wilson became South Carolina\u2019s career leader in scoring (2,389 points) and blocks (363).<\/p>\n She also became South Carolina\u2019s first No. 1 WNBA draft pick, chosen by the Las Vegas Aces. She has won three league MVPs, including this past season, and a pair of WNBA championships with Las Vegas.<\/p>\n Wilson also was part of the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Paris this past summer.<\/p>\n Her journey started just a short drive from South Carolina\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n \u201cHome is where your legacy began,\u201d Staley said in a video shown to the crowd before her jersey ceremony.<\/p>\n \u201cA\u2019ja, we love you!\u201d a fan yelled as Wilson took the mic.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d she said, laughing.<\/p>\n Wilson thanked her teammates, coaches and fans.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to be a Gamecock, to be a part of this community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Wilson choked up when thanking her parents. \u201cI hope I make you proud,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A banner with South Carolina, No. 22 and her name is located next to the NCAA championship banner Wilson helped win eight years ago.<\/p>\n She was swarmed by the current Gamecocks players, who wore warm-up shirts with Wilson\u2019s number on them, as she left the court.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you all for believing in me and for making this moment possible,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women\u2019s college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/womens-college-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) \u2014 Three-time WNBA MVP A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s South Carolina No. 22 jersey was hung in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[202366,4044,2662,4677,1060,8643,5614,1782,59129,99,434,1765,2664,13016],"class_list":["post-424986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-sports","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-nv-state-wire","tag-sc-state-wire","tag-south-carolina","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks-womens-basketball","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-womens-sports","tag-womens-college-basketball","tag-womens-national-basketball-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424986","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=424986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}