South Carolina women's basketball: Scouting Kierra Fletcher
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South Carolina women’s basketball went after several big names in the transfer portal but ended up signing just one relatively unheralded player, Kierra Fletcher. The Gamecocks had one major hole in the roster, needing a veteran point guard to pair with Raven Johnson, and got exactly what they needed in Fletcher.
Fletcher is a 5-9 point guard who was a four-year starter at Georgia Tech. She opted to return for a super senior season last year but missed the entire season due to a foot injury. Fletcher entered the transfer portal following the season and committed to South Carolina following the national championship game (incidentally Fletcher was effectively replaced at Georgia Tech by one-time Gamecock Bianca Jackson, who spent the last three seasons at Florida State).
Fletcher was an ACC All-Freshman selection and a three-time member of the All-ACC Academic team. For her career, Fletcher started 111 of the 113 games she played and averaged 9.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.4 steals. In her senior season, she helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the Sweet 16 and averaged 13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.7 assists.
That season ended with a loss to South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina won the game 76-65, but Georgia Tech made South Carolina sweat, due in large part to a big second half from Fletcher. She finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, three steals, and three assists.
Fletcher didn’t lead the scouting report for Georgia Tech going into that game, so I didn’t remember much about her performance. I rewatched that game to get a better idea of what South Carolina is getting.
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Observations
Three things stood out from Fletcher: her size, her defense, and her control on offense.
Fletcher is listed as 5-9, but she dwarfed 5-7 Destanni Henderson. She has long arms that allow her to play bigger than her listed height. Georgia Tech tried getting her the ball in the post a couple of times to take advantage of her size. She didn’t score, but it gave a different look. Her build is somewhat similar to Tyasha Harris
Where Fletcher’s size really showed was on defense. Georgia Tech had one of the best defenses in the nation two years ago, so clearly Fletcher had to be pretty good, but she was very impressive. On one play, Henderson tried to run Fletcher into two or three different screens, but Fletcher was able to use her long arms to recover each time and Henderson ended up giving up the ball to reset the offense. Henderson finished with a relatively quiet nine points and seven assists. On another play, Fletcher outjumped Aliyah Boston on an errant pass near midcourt, despite giving up more than half a foot to Boston.
Offensively, Fletcher never seemed to get sped up and controlled the pace. She only had two turnovers despite playing 39 minutes and handling the ball the entire time. She had a smooth, confident shot, despite not being a shooter her first three seasons. Fletcher also threw nice entry passes to Lorela Cubaj in the post, which should make Boston happy.
It was an impressive game for Fletcher. Just based on need, she was a good pickup for the Gamecocks. If Fletcher can play like that next season, she will be a real asset and could turn the point guard position from a question mark to a strength.
