Gamecock basketball signee Ashlyn Watkins wins McDonald’s All-American dunk contest
Ashlyn Watkins can add another honor to her high school career — slam dunk champion.
The Cardinal Newman senior won the McDonald’s All-American Slam Dunk contest on Monday in Chicago. She is the third woman to win the contest. Former Tennessee great Candace Parker won it in 2004, while Fran Belibi — now at Stanford — competed and won in 2019.
“It feels amazing,” Watkins said on ESPN interview after the contest.
South Carolina women’s coach Dawn Staley tweeted out congratulations on Watkins winning the dunk contest. Watkins signed to play with USC in November.
“Been doing this in SC since she was in 6th grade so welcome world to what’s been our world. Congrats Ashlyn!” Staley wrote.
Watkins scored 59 of 60 on her first attempt with a one-handed slam. On her second attempt, she wore Candace Parker’s No. 3 Chicago jersey and connected on a baseline dunk after bringing the ball behind her back.
The top three dunkers made it to the final round.
In the first dunk of the final round, Watkins connected on a one-handed left-hand dunk and was in second place. On her final dunk, she took an ally-oop to and scored a 60 to win the contest by one point to edge Nick Smith Jr.
“I didn’t know I was going to do that. I just winged it really,” Watkins said.
Earlier Monday, the 6-foot-3 Watkins didn’t tip her hand on what we might see of her from the dunk contest, saying “You will have to see.”
Watkins had been training with trainer Josh Holmes and James “Pooh” Abrams, a former Eau Claire standout who still trains players in the Columbia area, to get ready for the event.
Watkins burst onto the scene, dunking in 2015 as a fifth-grader during a game on a 9-foot basket. In 2018, she dunked twice during the summer at the Jr. NBA World Championship. She has dunked several times in games for Cardinal Newman, including the 2020 playoffs.
Watkins was the 2022 SC Gatorade Player of the Year and was a five-year varsity starter for Cardinal Newman, leading the school to four straight SCISA Class 3A championships to close out her career. The 6-foot-3 post player is the school’s all-time leader in scoring (1,740 points) and rebounds (1,341) to go along with 366 blocked shots. Cardinal Newman made it to the state championship game in each of her five years at the school, winning the last four titles.
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 9:10 PM.
