Dawn Staley, Gamecocks land five-star recruit for first 2020 pledge
Dawn Staley and South Carolina are on the board.
Five-star guard Eniya Russell committed to the Gamecock women’s basketball team on Friday, giving USC its first commitment in the class of 2020. The program announced her signing Saturday morning.
“Eniyah is going to make a huge impression,” Staley said in a statement. “She’ll be a crowd favorite for us with her ability to dazzle passing the basketball. She’ll keep defenses honest with her ability to shoot deep 3s, to get to the basket and her pull-up game is second to none.”
Russell, a 6-foot combo guard out of Baltimore, Maryland, chose South Carolina over finalists Georgetown, Kentucky, Miami, and Indiana. She is ranked No. 43 in her class by ESPN, No. 39 by Prospects Nation and No. 49 by All Star Girls Report.
As a junior, Russell was named first-team All-Metro by the Baltimore Sun, averaging 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game. She was a second-team All-Metro player as a sophomore.
“Athletic guard rebounds and attacks in transition game; quick-leaper plays big in the back court, rises on jumper in mid-range game; quick off the dribble attacks the defense with body control to the rim; 3-point range opportunist,” ESPN recruiting analyst Dan Olson wrote of Russell in his scouting report.
South Carolina pulled in the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2019, landing four commitments from ESPN’s top 11 players. It was Staley’s first ever recruiting championship, boosted with the help of assistant coach and recruiting specialist Jolette Law, who came aboard in 2017.
Teams that finish No. 1 in ESPN’s recruiting class rankings typically have a hard time the following year — over the past decade, a team has gone from having the No. 1 class to unranked the next year seven times (including South Carolina). The highest a team has finished the year after securing the top class is No. 4.
The Gamecocks had been one of just four Power 5 programs without a 2020 pledge before Friday, along with Auburn, Indiana and Florida State.
With the upcoming graduation of seniors Tyasha Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, South Carolina’s 2020-21 roster is now set to have 11 student-athletes.
SOUTH CAROLINA 2020-21 PROJECTED ROSTER
LeLe Grissett — senior, guard/forward
Destiny Littleton — redshirt junior, guard
Victaria Saxton — junior, forward
Destanni Henderson — junior, guard
Elysa Wesolek — junior, forward
Aliyah Boston — sophomore, center
Zia Cooke — sophomore, guard
Brea Beal — sophomore, guard
Laeticia Amihere — sophomore, forward
Olivia Thompson — sophomore, guard
Eniya Russell — freshman, guard
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 9:12 PM.
