Dawn Staley challenged her, and Joyce Edwards answered the call

On Sunday, South Carolina women’s basketball was in an unfamiliar place. The Gamecocks lost their first regular season SEC contest since December of 2021 when the Texas Longhorns emerged from a hard-nosed battle with a four-point victory in Austin.

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During her media availability between the Texas game and Carolina’s Thursday night contest against the Florida Gators, Coach Staley spoke about a lot of things. She talked about various ways that her team could improve and how the entire team needed to play with more confidence. She also issued a challenge to one player, in particular.

In typical Dawn Staley fashion, the challenge to freshman forward Joyce Edwards was not handled in a negative or demeaning way. In fact, she delivered it along with a message of confidence for her young star.

Staley said, “Most great players, they turn the page a lot quicker than others. That’s what makes them great; that’s what makes them pros. So, here is an opportunity for Joyce (Edwards) to just learn to turn the page.” She added, “As a coach, I don’t connect games to other games. Once we debrief, once we decompress, we move on. If Joyce wants to stay there, then it might connect. But Joyce isn’t the type that’s going to stay there. Joyce wants to play well, wants to do well, wants to see the work that she puts in.”

Coach Staley issued a challenge, and Joyce Edwards answered the call.

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Against Florida, just four days following the loss, the Columbia-area native had her best game as a Gamecock. Edwards scored 28 points on an efficient 10-17 shooting night. She also was perfect from the foul line, converting all eight of her chances from the charity stripe. She chipped in five rebounds, one assist, and a steal while drawing four fouls against Florida on the night. The 28 points was an all-time South Carolina women’s basketball freshman record in SEC play.

As she often does, Edwards played multiple roles for South Carolina on Thursday night. She played her usual power forward spot and ventured some out to the wing. However, she spent some time playing as the lone post player in a four-guard lineup, as well. It all worked, too, as she was one of ten Gamecocks with a +/- rating of at least 13. The game was over at halftime as USC led 62-32. Edwards already had 18 points at the intermission.

Both player and coach were proud but not surprised by the bounceback performance.

During postgame media availability, Edwards said that she and the rest of the team focused on their toughness after the Texas loss. “You don’t really know how tough you are until you get punched down,” she said. “And we got back up.” No. 8 added, “Obviously Texas was, you know, a little rough, but you watch film, and you learn from it. In every situation, you learn. I feel like that’s what I did today.”

Staley showered praise on her SEC Freshman of the Year candidate. “With someone that works as hard and studies as hard [as Edwards does]…Am I surprised? No. Would we come out the gate and say you have to be this in the very beginning? No, it develops. I think she is a really good person that is regimented in how she does things, which is really a gift.”

According to Staley, a standout performance like this is “par for the course for a player of [Edwards’] study habits.” She then went on to compare Edwards to Aliyah Boston, an honor of a comparison for a South Carolina forward.

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Edwards, Staley, and the Gamecocks have another big-time game coming up this weekend, one that will require another tough performance.

On Sunday, the top 10 UConn Huskies (along with College GameDay) will be in Columbia. The annual rivalry contest will tip off at 1:00 p.m. ABC will handle the broadcast, while the ESPN app makes it available for streaming.

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