South Carolina women's basketball: Cleaning out the notebook

We’re a quarter of the way thorough the SEC schedule, so it’s time to clean out the notebook.

Injury Updates
Ashlyn Watkins’ torn ACL is probably the most significant injury across the SEC, but there are several others to watch. 

Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker suffered a leg injury in the Tide’s SEC opener against Florida. She has not played since, although she was upgraded from Out to Questionable ahead of Alabama’s game against Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide is 3-1 in the SEC, but the 84-40 loss at Texas shows how far behind the league elite Alabama is without Barker.

Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers left the Sooners’ 77-62 win over Texas A&M in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. She did not return and Oklahoma has not updated her status. As with Barker and Alabama, Oklahoma’s ceiling is a lot lower without Beers.

Laila Phelia remains out for Texas.

It’s not an injury, but the Lady Vols are in full-blown baby-watch. Head coach Kim Caldwell’s due date is January 20. Tennessee hosts Mississippi State on January 16 and makes the short trip to Vanderbilt on January 19. The next game is at Texas on January 23.

SEC Conference Race
Three SEC teams remain undefeated in conference play. Two – South Carolina and LSU – were expected, but Kentucky crashing the party was not. 

Kentucky has avoided the elite teams of the conference so far, but the Wildcats have easily beaten three of the SEC’s “middle class.” Kentucky should win its next three games against Georgia, Texas A&M, and Arkansas, but then the second half of the schedule is brutal. That includes a season finale at South Carolina that, improbably, could be for an SEC title.

On the other hand, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss are each 2-2, while Vanderbilt is 1-3. The league is so unforgiving that the Sooners and Lady Vols, dark horse contenders to win the conference, are already practically eliminated from the SEC race.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-LSU WBB]

NET Rankings and Tournament Seeding
Kevin Miller keeps tabs on the NET every time it is updated (you can read the most recent story HERE), but let’s take a broader look. It’s too early to get bogged down in all the hypotheticals, but here’s what I’m keeping an eye on.

The NET doesn’t directly correspond to NCAA Tournament seeding, but it’s an important tool and the best projection we have right now. South Carolina has pretty much been first or second most of the season, but there isn’t much separating the top seven or eight teams and a lot could change. 

Why does that matter?

The regional sites are Birmingham, Alabama, and Spokane, Washington. Obviously, South Carolina wants to play in Birmingham. So do all of the other top teams except UCLA and Southern Cal. 

In the last two years, South Carolina was pretty clearly the top overall seed so it was a given that the Gamecocks would get sent to their preferred sites. The NET suggests that would be the case this year too, but it’s far from obvious.

Again, it’s too soon to start going through all the possibilities, but this could be a season where it’s better to be a 2-seed sent to Birmingham than a 1-seed sent to Spokane.

Recruiting notes
On Tuesday, South Carolina’s 2025 signee Ayla McDowell was named to the Naismith High School Midseason Team. Later in the day, she celebrated her senior night with a win over rival Cypress-Ranch. I haven’t been able to track down a box score.

2026 target McKenna Woliczko suffered a torn ACL on January 4. Woliczko is ranked sixth in the class by HoopGurlz, but at the time of her injury, she was the favorite to win national player of the year for her class and perhaps overall. Additionally, her Archbishop Mitty team was the top-ranked team in the country when Woliczko went down. 

Other
Former Gamecock Sahnya Jah transferred to Arizona in the offseason. She is averaging 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds this season. She has mostly come off the bench but started one game. She had a career game against Weber State with 22 points and 10 rebounds. However, coach Adia Barnes said over the weekend that Jah is not with the team due to a coach’s decision. Barnes did not elaborate. Jah’s freshman season at South Carolina ended in February when she was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.

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