South Carolina WBB shouted out at Democratic National Convention. Dawn Staley reacts
The South Carolina women’s basketball team received a shoutout at the Democratic National Convention this week.
The 2024 DNC began Monday and will end Thursday in Chicago. The formal event brings Democrats from all 50 states and U.S. territories together to rally support for the party’s 2024 presidential ticket of current Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. A ceremonial roll call took place Tuesday night at the United Center to commemorate the vote made official earlier this month selecting Harris as the Democratic nominee.
DJ Cassidy played a song for each state and territory when it came their time to symbolically cast votes. Barnwell native James Brown’s “Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine” was the pick for South Carolina. It played over the speakers as Christale Spain — the first Black woman chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party — rattled off high-profile South Carolinians, including the flagship university’s most dominant sports team.
“Hello from the great state of South Carolina, where we pick presidents!” Spain proclaimed. “The home of the DNC chair Jaime Harrison, the home of the first Black Panther Chadwick Boseman, the home of the national basketball champions, the mighty Lady Gamecocks!”
Sen. Margie Bright Matthews then declared South Carolina decided to throw its 65 delegates behind Harris.
Coach Dawn Staley was tuning in (from an airplane by the looks of it) and took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her excitement.
“Home of the who……the MIGHTY @GamecockWBB!” Staley wrote along with a picture of MSNBC’s live roll call feed. “Let’s goooooooo! Roll Call at the DNC…..good looks!”
South Carolina won its third national championship in program history about four months ago with a triumphant victory over Iowa. USC finished 38-0, completing the first undefeated season in Division I women’s basketball since UConn in 2016.
In November the Gamecocks will begin their “repeat tour,” as rising junior point guard Raven Johnson so eloquently dubbed the 2024-25 season. USC lost 2024 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Kamilla Cardoso to the WNBA but otherwise returns everyone from the national championship-winning squad. South Carolina also added 6-foot-4 forward Maryam Dauda and the No. 3 high school recruiting class in the nation, headlined by homegrown standout Joyce Edwards.
Will South Carolina women’s basketball visit the White House?
In May, a White House spokesperson told The State there was “nothing to preview at this time” regarding a potential White House visit for the reigning national champions. Since then, they have not responded to multiple emails asking for updates.
South Carolina’s previous national championship teams (2017 and 2022) did not visit the White House. The 2017 squad received an invite, Staley said in November of that year, but chose not to attend.
“We did hear from the White House about attending (the) event, but we will not be able to attend,” she said in a statement. “As I’ve been saying since our practices for this season started, all of our focus is on the season ahead. The only invitation we are thinking about is to the 2018 NCAA Tournament.”
Congressman James Clyburn said USC was invited to the White house during the 2022 national championship parade in Columbia, adding that he’d “leave the date up to you all to work out.” But the visit never happened. In February of 2023, Staley said someone had mentioned March as a possible time frame, but at that point USC was in the throes of an undefeated season with eyes on the Final Four in Dallas.
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 11:08 AM.
