South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks in the WNBA - Midseason Report

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The WNBA capped the first half of the season with All-Star Weekend in Phoenix and now goes on hiatus for nearly a month while the top players compete in the Olympics. Catch up on how former Gamecocks fared during the first half.

All-Star Game 
A’ja Wilson (Team USA): 29 minutes*, 22 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, block
Aliyah Boston (WNBA All-Stars): 9 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, assist
Allisha Gray (WNBA All-Stars): 22 minutes, 16 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 5 steals (tied All-Star record)

Atlanta Dream (7-17)
Laeticia Amihere (11 games, 4.7 minutes, 1.2 pts, 1.9 rebs)
It’s bad timing for Amihere that she left for national team duties while the Dream was depleted by injuries. She probably would have gotten decent playing time had she been available. Atlanta knew Amihere was a project when it drafted her, but they might want to see some return on investment in the second half of the season.

Last week:
At Minnesota (86-79 loss): DNP- Team Canada obligations

Allisha Gray (24 games (24 starts), 32.4 mpg, 15.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.0 spg)
It’s fair to say nobody had a better All-Star Weekend in Phoenix than Lish. On Friday she became the first player to sweep the Skills Challenge and Three-Point Contest in the same night (and just the third player ever to win both) and pocketed $115,150 in the process. That is nearly two-thirds of her season salary of $185,000. On Saturday she scored 16 points and tied the All-Star game record with five steals. Now she gets a three-week vacation to spend some of that cash.

Last week:
At Minnesota (86-79 loss): 27 minutes*, 7 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds

Destanni Henderson (6 games, 17.5 mpg, 4.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.5 apg)
Henderson was released on Thursday, July 18. That was a given with her seven-day contract about to end and the season on hiatus. The question is whether she will get picked up for the second half. 

Last week:
At Minnesota (86-79 loss): 19 minutes, 5 points, 4 assists, rebound

Chicago Sky (10-14)
Kamilla Cardoso (18 games (15 starts), 26.2 mpg, 8.1 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.1 bpg)
Cardoso missed the beginning of the season due to a shoulder injury and then was on a minutes restriction when she returned. She is putting up solid numbers and appears to be an ideal pairing with Angel Reese and they give the Sky their building blocks for the future. Cardoso can be passive at times, the same problem she had at South Carolina, but hopefully that goes away with experience, also like it did at South Carolina.

Last week:
At Las Vegas (93-85 win): 30 minutes*, 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, steal

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Connecticut Sun (18-6)
Ty Harris (23 games (23 starts), 30.4 mpg, 11.0 ppg, 3.2 apg, 1.8 rpg, 1.1 spg)
Harris was an afterthought in Dallas, where the Wings could never figure out how to use her effectively. A trade to the Sun before last season revived her career as a three-point specialist, leading the league in three-point percentage. Harris moved into the starting lineup this season and although she isn’t shooting at quite the same clip, she has a knack for big plays at important times and is putting up career numbers. She’s proof that fit (and organizational confidence) matter.

Last week:
At New York (82-74 loss): 31 minutes*, 11 points, 4 assists, rebound, steal

Tiffany Mitchell (24 games, 16.3 mpg, 4.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg)
Last season Mitchell rejuvenated her career as a point guard for Minnesota, and this season she has another new role: defensive stopper off the bench. It isn’t a flashy role, but she’s a key member of one of the league’s best teams. Like Harris, Mitchell has found success with a franchise that knows how to put her in the right role.

Last week:
At New York (82-74 loss): 21 minutes, 5 points, steal

Indiana Fever (11-15)
Aliyah Boston (26 games (26 starts), 30.4 mpg, 14.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.5 bpg)
Boston went into the break by scoring a career-high 28 points. Perhaps no individual player represented Indiana’s early-season struggles more than Boston: she rarely got the ball in scoring position and was frequently counted on to bail out her teammates on offense and defense. Now the Fever have figured out how to play together and Boston and Caitlin Clark have become the elite pick-and-roll duo everyone expected them to be.

Last week:
At Dallas (101-93 loss): 28 minutes*, 28 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists

Victaria Saxton (6 games, 2.2 mpg, 0.5 ppg, 0.2 rpg)
Saxton rarely plays, especially since the Fever have stopped getting blown out every other game.

Last week:
At Dallas (101-93 loss): DNP-CD

Las Vegas Aces (16-8)
A’ja Wilson (24 games (24 starts), 34.2 mpg, 27.2 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 2.4 apg, 2.9 bpg, 1.9 spg)
Wilson leads the league in scoring, rebounds, and blocks, and is fifth in steals. If she keeps this up, it will be the greatest individual season in league history.. She is on pace to set the WNBA record for points per game (current record: 25.29 by Diana Taurasi in 2006) and rebounds per game (current record: 11.88 by Sylvia Fowles in 2018). Even Rebecca Lobo, who spent most of the season arguing for anyone but Wilson as MVP, admitted during the All-Star game that Wilson is the unanimous first-half MVP.

Last week: 
Vs Chicago (93-85 loss): 37 minutes*, 28 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 steals

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Los Angeles Sparks (6-18)
Zia Cooke (20 games, 9.2 mpg, 3.4 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 0.7 apg)
Cooke has her moments this season, but her poor shooting limits her effectiveness. She was benched earlier in the season and bounced back with a couple of double-figure scoring games. Cooke shot just 21% over the next six games before taking another DNP-CD.

Last week:
Vs Seattle (89-83 loss): DNP-CD

Phoenix Mercury (13-12)
Mikiah Herbert Harrigan (19 games (3 starts), 12.1 mpg, 2.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.5 bpg, 0.6 spg)
Statistically, and in terms of minutes played, Herbert Harrigan has had an up-and-down season. Her playing time is dictated by the availability of other players, so she’ll play 30 minutes one night and barely get off the bench the next. Still, her return to the league after a three year absence has to be considered a success and she is one of the feel-good stories of the season.

Last week:
At Washington (96-87 win): 10 minutes, rebound

Unsigned
Brea Beal 
Las Vegas cut Beal early in training camp.  

Alaina Coates (Preseason stats with Seattle: 2 games, 8.0 minutes, 3.0 pts, 1.0 reb, 1.0 block) 
Coates got a long look in Seattle but didn’t fit in with the Storm’s rebuild. She’s got lots of experience, though, and will probably be one of the first calls for any team that needs post depth for the stretch run. 

Kaela Davis (Preseason stats with Seattle: 2 games, 14.0 minutes, 1.5 points, 3.5 rebs)
Davis was hoping to show she was fully recovered from an Achilles injury, but she didn’t do enough to convince Seattle. 

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