Suspension lifted: Ashlyn Watkins officially back with South Carolina WBB team
Ashlyn Watkins is back with the South Carolina women’s basketball team.
A team spokeswoman confirmed to The State on Wednesday that Watkins’ indefinite suspension from team activities has been lifted after the resolution of her case stemming from an Aug. 31 arrest on charges of first degree assault and battery and kidnapping at an on-campus student housing complex.
She is immediately eligible for the No. 1 Gamecocks.
“With the dismissal of the legal charges, South Carolina junior forward Ashlyn Watkins has returned to team activities beginning with practice today,” the team said in a statement released Wednesday.
Both of Watkins’ charges were dismissed last Friday, according to online records of the Richland County Fifth Judicial Circuit Public Index.
Court records show that Watkins, 20, completed pre-trial intervention, a program that allows first-time non-violent offenders to have charges dropped as long as they complete a number of requirements.
The junior forward had been suspended from the team since her Aug. 31 arrest at a university-owned apartment complex on those two charges. She did not travel with South Carolina for the team’s season-opening win Monday against Michigan in Las Vegas, and the school’s official game notes for that contest (released last Sunday) listed her as “currently suspended from team activities.”
Coach Dawn Staley addressed Watkins’ situation and team status in media interviews on Sept. 24, saying: “We’re not gonna move until her situation’s settled down a little bit. It’s out of her control. It’s out of our control.”
The Gamecocks won their season opener, 68-62, and play No. 9 N.C. State in the Ally Tipoff event in Charlotte on Sunday (3 p.m., ESPN).
Watkins will now be available for that game and going forward for South Carolina. The 6-foot-3 forward and Columbia native averaged 9.2 points and 7.4 rebounds last year for the defending champs and led the SEC with 91 blocks.
In all, Watkins’ suspension from the team lasted just over two months. The former McDonald’s All-American missed South Carolina’s trip to the White House to be honored by President Joe Biden for its 2024 national championship, all of preseason practice, two exhibition games and Monday’s season opener.
Recap of arrest
Watkins was arrested in the early hours of Aug. 31, the same day as USC’s football home opener, after what began as a heated argument between Watkins and the victim led to to kidnapping and assault charges.
Watkins and the alleged victim, who was a minor, knew each other.
According to arrest warrants, Watkins assaulted the victim by “forcefully grabbing her face, pulling her by her arms, and pushing her.” She also allegedly picked the victim up against her will and carried her away, grabbed her head and forced her to walk down the hall and prevented her from leaving.
The victim eventually got away from Watkins and pulled a fire alarm. Police and fire personnel responded and treated the victim for non-life-threatening injuries around 3 a.m., according to a police report released to The State in September.
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 12:42 PM.
