South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecock targets made big moves in new HoopGurlz rankings
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ESPN HoopGurlz has released updated recruiting rankings and several Gamecock targets have seen their stock rise.
In addition to updating the rankings for 2023, 2024, and 2025, HoopGurlz released its watch list for 2026. The watch list, which is in alphabetical order, contains two players with South Carolina offers: Kelsi Andrews (Auburn, AL) and Rieyan DeSouze (DeSoto, TX).
For 2025, South Carolina has offered a pair of top-five players. They are UAA teammates Darriana Alexander (fourth) and ZaKiyah Johnson (second). They swapped places since the previous rankings. South Carolina offered both this summer after they led West Virginia Thunder to the UAA championship.
South Carolina doesn’t have any commitments in the class of 2024, but a number of targets made moves. Camden native Joyce Edwards had been the top-ranked prospect for several years, but she dropped to second behind Jaloni Cambridge of Nashville. Hartsville’s Kiyomi McMiller rose one spot to sixth. Sarah Strong is a long-shot target, but she rose from fifth to fourth. Rounding out the top ten, Charlotte’s Blanca Thomas rose from tenth to ninth. One of the big risers of the class is Justice Carlton, who jumped from 21st to third. Carlton released her top 20 in August and South Carolina made the list.
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Morgan Cheli, who earned an offer after Dawn Staley watched her at the FIBA U17 World Cup, jumped from 28th to 18th. Kate Koval rose from 20th to 17th. Imari Berry climbed six spots to 32nd. Kennedy Ume held steady at 27th.
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Some players had to drop. Toby Fournier dropped from 15th to 23rd. Mikayla Blakes dropped five spots to 21st. Ella Hobbs, also from Charlotte, dropped to 47th. Kendall Dudley had one of the more significant drops, falling from fourth to 13th.
At the moment, South Carolina’s only 2023 commit is Sahnya Jah. She jumped five spots to 40th. She will probably continue to rise – although they deny it, it’s fairly established that where you commit plays into the rankings. Juju Watkins was elevated to the top overall ranking. She visited South Carolina last weekend and has narrowed her finalists to three (although she did not identify the finalists). Aalyah Del Rosario climbed one spot to seventh. Milaysia Fulwiley, who was once ranked second in the class, moved from 16th to 13th. Tessa Johnson rose a couple of spots to 25th, and Chloe Kitts held steady at 17th.
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Emma Risch was the big riser in the class of 2023. She jumped from 64th to 20th. She was offered by the Gamecocks in the summer of 2020 when she visited South Carolina but committed to Notre Dame in November 2021.
Arizona currently has the top-ranked class, while South Carolina is not ranked. That will change as the uncommitted players make their decisions, so it isn’t a reason for the Gamecocks to panic.
