South Carolina adds late recruit to 2018 class as Dawn Staley flips in-state forward

South Carolina women's basketball has added a late infusion of in-state frontcourt talent to help replace A'ja Wilson, as 6-foot-1 high school senior forward Elysa Wesolek, a native of Charleston, announced that she has signed with the Gamecocks on Monday.

Wesolek is rated as a three-star recruit and the 47th best forward in her class by ESPN. As a senior at Northwood Academy, Wesolek averaged 18.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. She had previously signed with Western Kentucky during the early signing period, but reopened her recruitment, took an official visit to South Carolina and switched.

A team spokesperson did not confirm Monday whether or not Wesolek will be eligible to immediately play, but her tweet seemed to imply that she was granted a full release by Western Kentucky, and as a result, should be able to suit up right away.

Wesolek is now the third incoming freshman for South Carolina, joining point guard Destanni Henderson and forward Victaria Saxton, both of whom are rated in ESPN's top 100 and are five-star recruits. With those two commits, Dawn Staley's recruiting class was rated the 17th best in the country by ESPN.

With the addition of Wesolek, Staley now presumably has six forwards for the 2018-2019 season: redshirt senior Alexis Jennings, junior Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, sophomores Lele Grissett and LaDazhia Williams and freshmen Saxton and Henderson.

Jennings has not officially confirmed she will be returning for a fifth season, transferring or turning pro, though she did not enter the WNBA draft. The Gamecocks are also pursuing graduate transfer Anriel Howard, who will take an official visit to Columbia in the near future, according to 247Sports.

This story was originally published April 16, 2018 at 7:27 PM with the headline "South Carolina adds late recruit to 2018 class as Dawn Staley flips in-state forward."