South Carolina women's basketball: Can Maryam Dauda be this year's Sania Feagin?
One year ago, give or take a day, the lightbulb came on for an inconsistent forward and she gave South Carolina a reliable four-player rotation heading into the postseason. Could it happen again this season?
Maryam Dauda is coming off of two of her best games of the season, about a year after Sania Feagin turned her season around.
Last season, Feagin was an inconsistent junior. She started at forward in the exhibition, but by the time the Gamecocks opened the season in Paris, Feagin had lost her starting role.
She had moments, like scoring 12 points in that season opener against Notre Dame and 15 points at Texas A&M, but there were also games when Feagin barely contributed and sometimes barely played.
Feagin was inconsistent, especially on defense. Her lack of focus on that end of the court and poor rebounding meant she had to play with either Ashlyn Watkins or Kamilla Cardoso on the floor to pick up her slack.
It changed for Feagin sometime in late February. She finished the regular season with the best three-game stretch of her career. Feagin had 10 points and seven rebounds against Alabama, 16 points, still her career-high, and six rebounds at Kentucky, and then seven points and nine rebounds at Arkansas.
Feagin was committed to defense and rebounding. Instead of being inconsistent she became reliable, and was a calming influence for the fiery Gamecocks.
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Dauda’s path is different. She was a starter at Arkansas and could have gone to a lot of different places and continued to play 30 minutes per game. Instead, she came to South Carolina where she was expected to be a change-of-pace player getting 15-20 minutes a night.
But Dauda struggled to learn South Carolina’s system, and her confidence was shaken and she barely played. Dawn Staley tried to force Dauda into the rotation, but Dauda put so much pressure on herself to be perfect in her limited playing time, that it was counterproductive.
Ironically, it was against Arkansas last week that Dauda finally relaxed and she finished with nine points and eight rebounds. It was her most productive game since early in the season.
Dauda followed it up with three points and seven rebounds in just 11 minutes against Vanderbilt. South Carolina didn’t miss a beat while she was on the floor. It’s not the same as Feagin’s breakout games last season, but it’s still a big jump for someone who had been almost unplayable.
If Dauda can continue to be that productive, it gives South Carolina a legitimate four-player rotation in the frontcourt. That would be a big difference for the Gamecocks, who have struggled against big opponents.
South Carolina just hopes history repeats.
