South Carolina women's basketball: The 20 best players in 20 years of Colonial Life Arena

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Colonial Life Arena turns 20 this November. Once the Carolina Center, and then the Colonial Center, the Gamecocks were coming off an Elite Eight appearance when they moved in. That success was short-lived and the program bottomed out before Dawn Staley built it into a national power. Here are the 20 best players – from that early success to the rebuild to the current golden era – that played in Colonial Life Arena.

20. Ashley Bruner (four seasons, 7.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.0 spg)

Bruner’s horrendous free throw shooting remains a program punch line even today. But she was a productive post who held her own against bigger players. At 6-0, Bruner was typical of Dawn Staley’s early players, making up for her lack of size with hustle and determination. Bruner had a long pro career overseas, and then got into coaching. She coached at Gray Collegiate in Columbia and is now an assistant at Tuskegee. 

19. Bianca Cuevas-Moore (four seasons, 7.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.4 spg)

Cuevas-Moore was an offensive spark plug and a defensive pest who could be unpredictable, so unpredictable she even changed her name halfway through her career. She helped the Gamecocks win a national championship, and then after missing a season due to injury, became a calming influence off the bench as a senior and finished with exactly 1,000 career points.

18. Brea Beal* (three-plus seasons, 6.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg)

Don’t even bother with the numbers. Beal has the misfortune of playing with Aliyah Boston, probably the best defensive player in program history. Otherwise, we’d be talking about Beal as the best defender. Whether it was running circles around Rhyne Howard as a freshman, to the point Kentucky changed its entire lineup just to get someone else on Howard, or the consecutive blocks on Hailey Van Lith to start the Final Four, Beal has taken on everyone and usually come out on top.

17. Valerie Nainima (two seasons, 12.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.0 apg)

Arguably the best player nobody saw, Fiji-born Nainima transferred from Long Island. She was second-team all-SEC and was a female Steph Curry: her range was the halfcourt line and in, and her quick release punished any defender who relaxed for a second. Unfortunately, Nainima tore her ACL following her junior season. She returned for the second half of her senior year but wasn’t the same. Nainima is currently an assistant coach at Michigan and a rising star in the profession.

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16. Kaela Davis (one season, 12.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.3 apg)

Davis only played one season in Colonial Life Arena, but she made the most of it. Davis was instant offense on South Carolina’s first national championship team.

15. Demetress Adams (four seasons, 8.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.3 bpg)

Unfortunately, an injury cut Adams’ senior season short, but it’s Adams, not A’ja Wilson, Alaina Coates, or Aliyah Boston, that holds South Carolina’s single-game rebounding record of 26.

14. Allisha Gray (one season, 13.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.3 spg)

Gray only played one season in garnet and black, but like Davis, she made the most of it. Gray’s ability to not just hold her own, but thrive as an undersized four was the key to South Carolina’s small-ball lineup that won the national championship.

13. Cristina Ciocan (two seasons, 12.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 6.0 apg, 2.1 spg)

One of the last holdovers from Susan Walvius’ Elite Eight team, Ciocan graduated as South Carolina’s career assist leader. As a senior on a struggling team, Ciocan had to do everything, and she notched a triple-double against Clemson, and that feat alone gets her on the list.

12. Ieasia Walker (four seasons, 8.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.4 apg, 2.0 spg)

Another do-everything point guard, Walker didn’t put up big numbers. But she had a steady hand running the team and was an excellent defender, earning SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior.

11. La’Keisha Sutton (four seasons, 10.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.9 apg)

Sutton was Dawn Staley’s first recruit. She didn’t have as much pure talent as a lot of the other players on this list (although she did become a Harlem Globetrotter), but nobody could match her toughness, grit, and will to win. As a senior, she led the Gamecocks to the Sweet 16 in their first tournament appearance under Staley and a top-25 finish.

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10. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan (four seasons, 8.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.5 bpg)

Herbert Harrigan was a reserve on the 2017 national championship team, and for her first three seasons, she was a mercurial talent with a knack for showing up in March but disappearing at other times. She wanted to transfer after her junior season, but a heart-to-heart with Staley cleared the air and changed her mind. As a senior, Herbert Harrigan became Mad Kiki, the leading scorer on the nation’s best team, but more importantly the emotional leader whose firey personality gave the Gamecocks their edge.

9.  Destanni Henderson (four seasons, 9.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.3 apg)

As a freshman, Henny suffered through the dysfunctional 2018-19 season as a part-time starter. Then as a sophomore, she gave up her starting spot to make room for the talented freshmen, and the team should have won the national championship. As a junior, Henderson finally took over at point guard and led the SEC in assists and was sensational in the Final Four, but was repeatedly the focus of fans’ ire for unfounded reasons. Finally, as a senior, she silenced the detractors once and for all with the game of her life in the national championship, notching 26 points, four assists, and three steals while shutting down Paige Bueckers.

8.  Zia Cooke* (three-plus seasons, 12.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.8 apg)

I moved Cooke up and down a few times. She is a dynamic, explosive scorer who could lead the nation in scoring if she were given the freedom to take every shot. But Cooke has willingly sacrificed numbers for wins. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been numbers – when Cooke gets hot, she’s nearly unstoppable.

7. Aleighsa Welch (four seasons, 10.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg)

Staley’s first in-state recruit, Welch began her career as an undersized, 6-0 center, helping South Carolina win at Tennessee for the first time ever, and then advance to the Sweet 16. As a senior, despite being surrounded by McDonald’s All-Americans, Welch was the unmistakable heart and soul of South Carolina’s first Final Four team. More than any other player, she bridged the gap from the scrappy underdog teams of Staley’s early tenure to the perennial title contenders the Gamecocks are today.

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6. Alaina Coates (four seasons, 12.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 210 blocks, 1.6 spg)

Coates’ legacy is perhaps unfairly tarnished by the fact the Gamecocks won the national championship after she got hurt. But she was a dominant force in the paint who helped establish a mindset the Gamecocks share to this day. She finished her career second in rebounding and blocked shots and was a two-time honorable mention all-American.

5. Jocelyn Penn (one season, 23.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.7 spg)

Penn only played one season at the Carolina Center, but it was a big one. She set the school record for points in a game with 51 against Stetson, and then became the career leader in steals.

4. Tyasha Harris (four seasons, 9.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.1 apg, 1.6 spg)

The consummate point guard, Harris quarterbacked the Gamecocks to a national championship as a freshman and was the SEC Female Athlete of the Year as a senior. She would have had bookend titles if not for the covid pandemic, but she still graduated as South Carolina’s career leader in assists.

3. Tiffany Mitchell (four seasons, 13.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.7 spg)

A two-time SEC Player of the Year, she would have become the first-ever three-time winner if she hadn’t been supplanted by teammate A’ja Wilson as a senior. Mitchell helped lead South Carolina to its first Final Four, first SEC titles, and an undefeated conference season.

2. Aliyah Boston* (three-plus seasons, 14.4 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.5 bpg, 1.2 spg)

Boston still has almost an entire season left in her career (and an option for a fifth year), and when all is said and done it might be hard to keep her out of the top spot. She’s already led South Carolina to a pair of Final Fours, a national championship, and most likely would have won another in 2020. She’s a two-time national player of the year, the only player ever named player of the year and defensive player of the year, and will almost certainly end her career as the most decorated Gamecock basketball player ever.

1. A’ja Wilson (four seasons, 17.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 363 blocks, Statue)

South Carolina was knocking on the door, but Wilson’s decision to stay home made the Gamecocks a national power. She played in two Final Fours, won a national championship, and became South Carolina’s all-time leader in scoring and blocked shots. And she has a statue in front of Colonial Life Arena, which earns her the top spot.

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