South Carolina WBB, Dawn Staley building a bond with nation’s No. 1 post player
Coach Dawn Staley and the South Carolina women’s basketball team are ramping up their recruiting efforts with one of the top players in the Class of 2026.
Five-star forward Oliviyah Edwards was in Columbia on an unofficial visit starting last Wednesday. Edwards, a 6-foot-3 junior, ranks as a five-star recruit, a top five player nationally and the top post player in the country, per espnW and 247Sports.
She included the Gamecocks among her top 10 schools released last August and teased her unofficial visit to campus last week on X (formerly Twitter).
Edwards had planned to attend South Carolina’s home game against LSU, but it’s unclear if she was able to make it to Colonial Life Arena for the AP Top 5 matchup after it was pushed back from Thursday to Friday because of winter weather.
No. 2 USC certainly put on a show in the game. The Gamecocks toppled No. 5 LSU, one of their top SEC rivals, by 10 points in front of a sellout crowd at Colonial Life Arena. Coach Kim Mulkey’s Tigers had entered the game 20-0 before losing 66-56.
“That’s probably the loudest that it’s been,” Staley said of the home atmosphere.
Oliviyah Edwards’ recruitment
Edwards – who was born in Atlanta but raised on the west coast in Tacoma, Washington – has an impressive list of schools she is considering.
Along with South Carolina, her top 10 schools list released in August include: Duke, LSU, Florida State, Notre Dame, Southern Cal, UNC, Tennessee, Washington and Florida. At this point, she hasn’t publicly narrowed down her list of finalists.
Edwards took an unofficial visit to Tennessee earlier this month, too, to watch the Lady Vols host LSU on Jan. 9 and thanked UT afterward for an “amazing” visit.
Edwards – who dunked for the first time in seventh grade, at age 13 – is currently playing basketball at Elite Sports Academy in Tacoma.
Last fall, entering her junior year, ESPN ranked her as the No. 5 prospect in the country regardless of recruiting class and described her as a do-it-all forward.
ESPN’s Shane Laflin wrote: “From the viral two-handed dunks to the side-step pull up jumpers, Edwards can do things not many women’s basketball players can on the court. She rebounds ferociously, blocks shots with either hand, drives the ball to the rim – and balances it with an ability to shoot from range. … Defensively, she has the talent to guard any position.”
Edwards has indicated in previous media interviews that she wants to commit to a school some time before or early in her senior year of high school this fall, but she’s not sure on a specific date. As such, she’s holding off on official visits.
“I have not booked any official visits yet,” she told On3 Sports earlier this month. “Some schools are wanting me to book closer to my decision date. I don’t know when I’m going to decide yet, so we haven’t booked anything.”
South Carolina offered Edwards a scholarship in summer 2023 as she entered her sophomore year of high school, per Gamecock Central.
Staley and the Gamecocks currently have one Class of 2025 signee (five-star Texas guard Ayla McDowell) and zero 2026 commits. That’s not uncommon at this point in the recruiting process, though. The 2026 early signing period isn’t until November.
No. 2 South Carolina beat No. 18 Tennessee on the road Monday night to move to 20-1 and 8-0 in the SEC. The Gamecocks host Auburn on Sunday (noon, SECN).
This story was originally published January 29, 2025 at 7:30 AM.
