Dawn Staley’s lineup decision in 2019 set the course for South Carolina’s core group
Former Gamecocks shooting guard Destanni Henderson was set to start as a sophomore for the 2019-20 season.
She prepared well behind the scenes and entered the season with a year of experience under her belt. But looking at the construction of the roster, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley decided to place a freshman — Zia Cooke — in the starting lineup instead.
Senior Tyasha Harris was the Gamecocks’ starting point guard at the time. However, instead of placing Henderson at the shooting guard spot, the coach put in Cooke. This move allowed both Cooke and Henderson to play their natural positions, and they both won last year’s championship as starters.
“For the overall future of our program, Zia would have been the better (shooting guard), and I knew (Henderson) would be the better (point guard) after (Harris) graduated,” Staley explained.
Cooke was the No. 4 player on ESPN coming into her freshman year, and established herself as more of a scoring guard. Henderson showed more floor general qualities as a college player.
Staley had a conversation with Henderson about that idea, knowing that Henderson would still see starter-level minutes. Giving her more control as a ball-handler and time to learn under Harris — who soon enters her fourth WNBA season — would be beneficial in the long run.
Staley started three freshmen that season — Cooke, Aliyah Boston and Brea Beal. All three were among the top 11 players in the top-ranked recruiting class of 2019. No freshmen have started for USC since that season.
“They performed every day in practice,” Staley said. “Every single day, they came.”
The three women remained starters throughout their tenure at South Carolina. Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan rounded out the starting five in the 2019-20 season. Then, the Gamecocks went 32-1 before the COVID-19 outbreak shut down the sport, snatching away USC’s chance to win a national championship.
But the team made it to the Final Four the next year, losing by just one point. USC pushed through the year after that with a national championship win against UConn, as Henderson — then the starting point guard — scored a game-high 26 points.
Cooke has taken on some point guard responsibilities for South Carolina when needed this season, also building up her profile for the WNBA.
As someone who started alongside Henderson, she also made a point to learn from her.
“There’s two big things that I will take away from (Henderson’s) game, and it’s pushing the ball in transition and defense,” Cooke told The State in October. “That’s two things that I’ve always watched and she never lacked those two things. She was never a point guard that slowed down. She always had a fast tempo to her and that’s something I want to take away.”
Henderson averaged 5.0 assists a game in her first year as a starter, and ended her career with a 3.3 assist per game average. But she also picked her spots as a scorer on occasion, with a double-digit scoring average in her final two seasons.
She was drafted by the WNBA’s Indiana Fever in 2022.
The core group of South Carolina’s team has reached the Final Four twice and won a national championship. Now, it looks to repeat as champions while also becoming the 10th women’s college basketball team to complete an undefeated season.
The success largely stemmed from USC’s class of 2019, and from Staley’s crucial lineup change.
“It was (Henderson) that made the biggest sacrifice of them all,” the Gamecocks’ coach said.
