{"id":625666,"date":"2026-02-26T08:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625666\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T08:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:49:11","slug":"what-dawn-staley-said-about-south-carolina-womens-basketball-returns-for-chloe-kitts-ashlyn-watkins-madina-okot-for-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625666\/","title":{"rendered":"What Dawn Staley said about South Carolina women’s basketball returns for Chloe Kitts, Ashlyn Watkins, Madina Okot for next season"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, South Carolina women\u2019s basketball coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media<\/a>. As part of the conversation leading up to Thursday\u2019s matchup against Missouri, the Gamecock boss talked about her team\u2019s Senior Night.<\/p>\n

It was well known that Raven Johnson, Ta\u2019Niya Latson, and Maryam Dauda would take part in the festivities, as they have exhausted their collegiate eligibility. <\/p>\n

Madina Okot will also walk with the seniors, but Staley reiterated that the Gamecocks and their walking double-double are appealing for an extra year of eligibility. She played two years at Zetech University in Kenya before spending the last two seasons at Mississippi State and Carolina.<\/p>\n

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women\u2019s Basketball<\/a>!<\/p>\n

The other two senior Gamecocks at the forefront of Gamecock fans\u2019 minds are post players Chloe Kitts and Ashlyn Watkins. Though not identical circumstances, both players are out for the 2025-26 season with torn ACLs. Medical redshirts should be slam-dunk cases if they choose to pursue them. Staley spoke about Kitts\u2019 and Watkins\u2019 potential futures in Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cChloe will come back next year,\u201d she said. \u201cI think she said that on Instagram, didn\u2019t she? Right? Well, as far as I know. The transfer portal isn\u2019t open yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kitts, a 6-2 forward who injured her knee this preseason, is eligible for the WNBA Draft. Public sentiment has seemed to favor a Kitts return to Columbia for some time.<\/p>\n

Watkins\u2019 situation is a little different, but Staley said she expects her to return, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, Ashlyn took a year off,\u201d Staley said. \u201cShe will come back when that year is up. That\u2019s sometime in May.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watkins, a 6-3 forward who got hurt last season against Mississippi State, is also eligible for the draft. However, she unenrolled from South Carolina following an announcement of a year away from basketball during the summer.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc0 GamecocksW newsletter: WBB coverage delivered straight to your inbox<\/a>!<\/p>\n

While not making any promises, Coach Staley spoke confidently. If her confident prognostications mirror reality, South Carolina\u2019s 2026-27 roster would receive major boosts. Getting any or all of Okot, Kitts, and Watkins back can only help USC\u2019s frontcourt for next season.<\/p>\n

For now, though, four Gamecocks \u2014 one who might return \u2014 will take part in Senior Night. Following the pregame ceremony, Carolina will take on the Missouri Tigers at 8 p.m. at Colonial Life Arena. SEC Network will carry the television broadcast, while the ESPN app will make the action available via streaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday, South Carolina women\u2019s basketball coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media. As part of the conversation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,465],"class_list":{"0":"post-625666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116136078480291694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}