Olivia Gaines: A behind-the-scenes leader for the Gamecock women’s basketball team (+ video)

She is not one to address the media on a consistent basis. She might poke fun at teammates in private, but she is not one to take her comedy act in front of the team. She is considered one of the team’s best dancers, but you will not find her alongside teammates Khadijah Sessions and Tina Roy in the center of the pregame dance circle.

Yet, senior reserve guard Olivia Gaines has developed into a behind-the-scenes leader of this South Carolina women’s basketball team, mostly because of the example she sets for her teammates.

“It stabs at your character a little bit when you’re not able to get what you want,” Dawn Staley says of Gaines, who came out of Chester High and Louisburg Junior College as an on-court leader, a point guard who ran the offense and could score in big numbers.

Along the way, Gaines proved she could win games playing that way. Her Chester High teams lost 12 games over her four-season stretch on the varsity. Her Louisburg JC teams lost once in each of her two seasons, winning the 2013 National Junior College Athletic Association Division II title her senior year.

At USC, Gaines has embraced her role as a defensive specialist while living by her adopted motto of “being ready when called.”

Normally, Gaines is asked to leave the bench and clamp down on an opponent’s top perimeter scorer. Twice this season, she stepped up to make what amounted to a game-winning play.

Inserted into USC’s game at Duke early in the season with instructions from Staley to make a steal, Gaines did just that. In the 7 seconds she played in the game, Gaines picked the pocket of Duke’s Rebecca Greenwell and called timeout. That set the stage for A’ja Wilson’s game-winning follow basket.

Then, in Friday’s third-round NCAA tournament game at the Greensboro Coliseum, Gaines again heeded Staley’s advice and prepared to shoot from the corner with USC trailing by 3 in the game’s final minute. Her 3-pointer bounced high off the rim before falling through the basket, setting up Tiffany Mitchell’s game-winning basket in the final seconds.

Staley does not often bring junior-college players into the USC fold. When her staff missed on a few targets in the spring of 2013, Staley got wind of Gaines, who had just been named the national junior college Division II player of the year.

Having never seen Gaines play in person, Staley said the point guard’s speed and mid-range jump shot jumped off the videotape. USC was in need of bodies, particular in the backcourt, and Staley had little trouble persuading Gaines to switch from her initial commitment to High Point.

The step up for Gaines to a higher level of play did not come easily.

“It was a hard transition at first,” she says. “But once you’re on a good team and you see your teammates sacrifice, it’s not really that hard.”

Gaines averaged a little less than 10 minutes a game of playing time a season ago. Then, when she sat down with Staley in this preseason, Gaines was told her path to increased minutes on the court was through her play on defense. When Staley met with Gaines again at mid-season, the conversation was not comfortable.

“You don’t give me an opportunity,” Staley recalls Gaines saying.

“You’re probably right,” Staley said. “You’re probably right.”

Gaines played 22 minutes against Mississippi State in the home regular-season finale, and has secured 18, 16, 15 and 14 minutes in four of USC past five games. Her contributions are solid because she can distribute the ball and play tenacious defense. Occasionally, like on Friday, she also can score. The 3-pointer against North Carolina was Gaines’ third of the season in six attempts.

By accepting her limited role, Staley said Gaines has set a sterling example for her teammates about how to persevere, how to find a niche and how to quietly lead.

“I tip my hat to her. She’s a great young lady,” Staley says. “When I say she is respectful, she works hard every day, she’s the ultimate competitor, you want only good things to happen for players like that.”

Gaines’ teammates would like nothing more than to present her with a 22nd birthday present Sunday – an Elite Eight victory against Florida State and USC’s first trip to the Final Four.

They also want to see Gaines celebrate her birthday by finally jumping into the middle of Sunday’s pregame dance circle. There, teammates say, she could challenge Sessions and Roy as the team’s best dancer.

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Olivia Gaines: A behind-the-scenes leader for the Gamecock women’s basketball team (+ video)."