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Updated availability report ahead of South Carolina-Texas A&M

by:Kevin Millerabout 14 hours

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South Carolina women's basketball forward Ashlyn Watkins (Photo by Katie Dugan | GamecockCentral)
South Carolina women's basketball forward Ashlyn Watkins (Photo by Katie Dugan | GamecockCentral)

Earlier this week, South Carolina women’s basketball announced that junior forward Ashlyn Watkins suffered a torn ACL. The injury, sustained in Sunday’s win over Mississippi State, will keep the All-SEC performer sidelined until next season.

However, based on the latest availability report, the Gamecocks have made some other changes to their recent injury status.

Along with Watkins’ “out” designation, South Carolina also listed guard Maddy McDaniel as out against A&M. McDaniel hasn’t played since before Christmas and will remain out on Thursday. She has been dealing with a concussion. Post player Sakima Walker, though, who has been out since November, is no longer on the report. She had been in a walking boot thanks to a lingering ankle injury. Now, with the final update before tip-off time, Walker will play, but McDaniel and Watkins will not.

Texas A&M also won’t be at full strength for Thursday’s SEC bout. On Wednesday’s availability report, the Aggies announced that forward Vanessa Saidu would miss the South Carolina game. Forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim, younger sister of long-time NBA forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, was “questionable.” On Thursday afternoon, A&M removed Abdur-Rahim from the report, while Saidu remained out.

[USC-Texas WBB: Win tickets, parking]

During the offseason, the SEC approved a new policy that mandates availability reports for conference games. The reports will be required for football, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball. For football, teams submit reports on Wednesday and then update them each day until a final report 90 minutes before game time. For basketball and baseball, reports will be submitted the evening before a game and then updated on game day.

The availability reports will use designations such as “available,” “probable,” “questionable,” “doubtful,” and “out” to describe how likely it is that a particular player will suit up for the next conference game. On game day, those designations will shift to “out” or “game-time decision.” The reports model professional sports leagues’ injury reports.

South Carolina and Texas A&M will tip off at 5:00 p.m. ESPN2 will broadcast the game, and the ESPN app will make it available for streaming.

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