South Carolina women’s basketball makes final cut for nation’s No. 2 transfer recruit
The South Carolina women’s basketball team has made the final cut for one of the country’s top transfer portal players.
Former All-American DePaul forward Aneesah Morrow has the Gamecocks as one of her top three schools, she announced Friday on Twitter.
Morrow’s commitment date is to be determined.
Reigning national champion LSU and Southern Cal are also finalists for Morrow, who ranks as the No. 2 portal player in the country according to ESPN and has two remaining years of eligibility.
Morrow, a 6-foot-1 forward, boasts career averages of 23.8 points and 13.0 rebounds per game at DePaul, where she was a two-time All Big East selection, led the conference in rebounding in consecutive seasons and recorded double-doubles in 53 of 66 career games.
In 2022-23, Morrow ranked No. 4 nationally in scoring (25.7 ppg) and No. 7 in rebounding (12.2 rpg) as DePaul went 16-17 and missed the postseason. The 6-foot-1 forward also averaged 2.0 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.3 blocks per game as a sophomore while recording 28 games of 20-plus points and eight games of 30-plus points.
ESPN previously reported that Morrow had drawn interest from 30-plus schools, including Notre Dame, Iowa, Maryland and Ole Miss, before trimming her list down to three.
South Carolina, which nearly pulled off an undefeated season before losing to Iowa in the Final Four, is losing seven scholarship players – including record-setting forward Aliyah Boston and four more WNBA Draft picks – from a roster that went 36-1 and swept the SEC’s regular-season and tournament titles in 2022-23.
The Gamecocks and coach Dawn Staley have been aggressive in the portal. Outside of their pursuit of Morrow, they’ve been linked to former Oregon guard Te-Hina Paopao and former Duke guards Celeste Taylor and Shayeann Day-Wilson over the past week. USC added former Duke associate head coach Winston Gandy to its staff as an assistant last week.
Taylor, the ACC’s 2022 defensive player of the year, is now off the board after committing to Ohio State on Thursday. But USC’s other two targets aren’t far behind Morrow in terms of accolades: On its list of top 35 transfers, ESPN ranks Oregon’s Paopao at No. 7 and Duke’s Day-Wilson at No. 9.
With Boston, forward Laeticia Amihere, guard Zia Cooke, guard Brea Beal and forward Victaria Saxton all getting drafted — and guards Kierra Fletcher and Olivia Thompson exhausting their eligibility — South Carolina is losing seven scholarship players (half of the 14-player roster it maintained for 2022-23).
Even with three freshmen (including local five-star guard Milaysia Fulwiley) enrolling this summer, South Carolina only has 10 scholarships returners, barring any transfers out of the program. That gives USC up to five more scholarships to dole out, if it chooses. The maximum for a Division I women’s team is 15.
This story was originally published April 21, 2023 at 10:19 AM.
