Look: South Carolina’s Ashlyn Watkins dunks in Gamecocks’ game against TCU
Ashlyn Watkins has done it again.
The South Carolina junior women’s basketball player dunked in a game for the third time in her college career on Sunday against Texas Christian.
The dunk happened in the first quarter as she stole the ball from Madison Conner near the 3-point line and took it all the way down the court and slammed it home in front of TCU’s 6-foot-7 Sedona Price to give the No. 3 Gamecocks a 20-14 lead over No. 9 TCU.
South Carolina led 44-23 at the half.
“Spectacular. That has created a buzz in the building,” ESPN play-by-play announcer Beth Mowins said of the dunk.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said after the game that Watkins was dunking and missing during the shootaround before the game.
“She cleared her runway, she got to the left side of the floor, and I knew she was going to attempt it,” Staley said. “... “The place exploded, our bench exploded. And I think it’s great for our game.”
Watkins’ other two dunks came against Kentucky last season and against Clemson as a freshman.
Dunking is nothing new for Watkins, a McDonald’s All-American coming out of Cardinal Newman in Columbia.
Watkins dunked in 2015 as a fifth-grader during a game on a 9-foot basket. In 2018, she dunked twice during the summer at the Jr. NBA World Championship. She dunked several times in games for Cardinal Newman in high school, including the 2020 playoffs.
Watkins won the McDonald’s All-American slam dunk contest in 2022, which fellow SEC player Candace Parker (Tennessee) also won in 2004. Before Watkins, the last SEC players to dunk in a game were Tennessee’s Parker and Sylvia Fowles (LSU). Michelle Snow of Tennessee dunked three times between 1998-02.
This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 7:27 PM.
