This 5-star freshman can ‘rebound with the best of them,’ Dawn Staley says
Standing next to the great South Carolina women’s basketball post players of recent years, Victaria Saxton isn’t exactly head and shoulders above anyone — literally.
At 6-foot-1, the incoming five-star freshman forward out of Rome, Georgia, checks in a few inches behind bigs like A’ja Wilson, Alaina Coates and Alexis Jennings.
Despite being slightly undersized, Saxton still has all the potential makings of an elite rebounder — a lanky frame with a long wingspan, explosive leaping ability that led to one analyst calling her a “747 on two legs” and perhaps most crucially, a nose for where the ball is going to be.
“Her intuition to just go get the ball — it’s not just that she can jump, it’s that she knows where to be,” said Saxton’s coach at Model High School, Sally Echols. “I think that will be a huge asset to South Carolina, especially knowing the role and the personnel that they’re losing.”
That personnel would be Wilson, the third-leading rebounder in program history. Now that she is a No. 1 WNBA draft pick with the Las Vegas Aces, the Gamecocks need all the frontcourt help they can get in 2018-2019. Meanwhile, Saxton, a highly-rated, five-star forward prospect, isn’t hiding the fact that she sees Wilson’s career as a template for her to follow.
That begins this summer with getting physically stronger, Saxton said, so she can handle the rough play in the low post that Wilson often encountered.
“We all know that whenever I get in college, everything’s going to be a lot more physical. Part of it is in the weight room, but also just on the court, just being stronger,” Saxton said.
Another way Saxton and Staley want her to emulate Wilson is by expanding her game to include midrange and perimeter shots and defense. While Wilson earned the Lisa Leslie Award her senior season as the nation’s best center, she spent plenty of 2017-2018 on the wing or as a “point forward.”
“She told me that she would put me more at the stretch four,” Saxton said of her conversations with Staley. “The part I think I need to work on is my outside. It’s a lot better now but I’m still continuing to work on it. I just gotta get a little more confident in it.”
Staley agreed with that assessment.
“Victaria is a perfectionist. She wants to get everything right,” Staley said. “She really understands basketball and has a really great basketball IQ, can rebound the ball. Her arms are really long, she rebounds the ball with the rest of them. From an offensive standpoint, she can drive to the basket. Her mid-range shot is pretty good. She’s got to get a little more consistent with that, but she’s not afraid.”
Consistency will come, Echols said, as Saxton moves to a level where she can no longer dominate with sheer size.
“(In high school) she took what was given to her, in that the outside opportunity was not as available as dominating from the inside,” Echols said. “She did what was best to help the team, and that was the mindset that she went about the game with.”
Still, while Saxton may no longer be the biggest player of the court — players like Mississippi State’s 6-foot-8 Teaira McCowan will tower over her — her athleticism will still make her a force in the paint, she and Echols said.
“I think I can translate my rebounding, because that’s my thing and I just love jumping up and getting the rebound,” Saxton said.
“They are getting a jumper,” Echols said. “She is one of the most athletic, unassuming kids that you might ever see. You look at her on my squad and obviously she’s a stud, but even when she’s mixed in with players who are about the same build, her leaping ability is by far her greatest gift.”