‘Let’s run it back’: Gamecock veteran Victaria Saxton will return for a final season
Victaria Saxton isn’t done at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks’ starting forward announced she’ll be returning for a fifth year with Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks in a tweet Wednesday.
“Looking at where I am and where I want to go next, I don’t want to leave any opportunity on the table,” Saxton said in a post. “So, it’s back to work with my sisters and my coaches to bring my game to another level — one that I can build a long career on.”
Saxton averaged 5.8 points and 5.8 rebounds, with 48 blocks and 26 steals last season. She started all 37 games of South Carolina’s 2021-22 national championship campaign.
With Saxton’s announcement, the Gamecocks are guaranteed to return four of this season’s five starters. Senior point guard Destanni Henderson has opted into WNBA draft consideration, per ESPN, and is projected by ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel to be a first-round WNBA draft pick when the draft is held this Monday.
Gamecocks add transfer guard
South Carolina secured a commitment from former Georgia Tech guard Kierra Fletcher, she announced in an Instagram post Wednesday.
A 5-foot-9 guard from Warren, Michigan, Fletcher was the Yellow Jackets’ second-leading scorer in the 2020-21 season and helped Georgia Tech to the Sweet 16 that season, where they were — ironically — eliminated by South Carolina 76-65. She averaged 13 points and five rebounds in her most recent season and shot 35.9% (23 of 64) from behind the arc.
Fletcher did not play in the 2021-22 season, opting for a medical redshirt after a foot injury, Georgia Tech’s student newspaper The Technique reported last November. She entered the transfer portal last February.
Fletcher will be a sixth-year senior in Columbia after playing four seasons with Georgia Tech and taking a fifth year for a medical redshirt. She started all 34 games as a freshman in the 2017-18 season, earning a spot on the ACC All-Freshman team in 2018.
Two reserves in transfer portal
Two reserve players announced that they entered their names into the transfer portal.
Senior Elysa Wesolek and sophomore Eniya Russell revealed their intentions to depart the Gamecocks’ program in social media posts Friday.
Wesolek intends to transfer as a graduate with one year of eligibility remaining, she said. Russell, who entered the Gamecocks’ program in 2020, will have two years left to play.
Wesolek, a 6-foot-1 forward from Charleston, saw playing time in 21 games this season, scoring 13 points with 13 rebounds on the year. She scored 28 points off the bench in the 2019-20 season, the most of her career.
Russell is a 6-foot guard from Baltimore who was a five-star recruit in the class of 2020. She played in 23 games this season, averaging 7.7 minutes. She scored 53 points with 30 rebounds on 42.2% shooting and went 5 of 12 from 3-point range as a sophomore.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 3:27 PM.
