No. 2 Gamecocks beat Queens, set new program scoring best under Dawn Staley
The South Carolina women’s basketball team took care of business in another comfortable win at home Sunday. Dawn Staley and the No. 2 Gamecocks (6-0) shellacked Queens 121-49.
It’s the seventh time in the last 10 seasons the Gamecocks have started with six consecutive wins. South Carolina, once again, lit up the Colonial Life Arena scoreboard and set a single-game scoring record for Staley’s tenure in Columbia. USC was led by a 25-point performance from Joyce Edwards.
Historic scoring day
The Gamecocks had very little trouble scoring against Queens.
South Carolina’s 121 points set a record for most points in a game scored during Staley’s tenure with the Gamecocks and was the third-most in program history. The program record in a single game is 137 points set in 1979.
It’s the third time USC has scored 100 or more points in the first six games of the 2025-26 season. It’s the fourth time in the last 10 seasons South Carolina has scored 100-plus points multiple times in the first six games of the year.
All 10 players on the South Carolina roster scored Sunday, and each member of Staley’s starting five scored double-digit points.
“I like the fact that we can score, and we can score in a lot of different ways,” Staley said.
Edwards led with 25 points, and Ta’Niya Latson scored 24. Raven Johnson (12) and Tessa Johnson (13) joined in the double-digit scoring. Madina Okot recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Adhel Tac recorded the first double-double of her career off the bench. She 11 points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
“I’m just happy that basketball finally has repaid her for the work that she’s put in,” Staley said of Tac.
South Carolina shot 66% as a team in the game. It’s the third time this season the Gamecocks have shot at least 60% from the floor.
Season-high marks for the defense
South Carolina’s defense made life hard for the Royals. Queens scored just 49 points in the game, the third-lowest mark allowed by the Gamecocks this year.
USC forced a season-high 21 turnovers and scored 22 points off those. The Gamecocks recorded a season-high 14 steals as a team. South Carolina’s 12 blocks are also a season-high.
Although these marks came against lower competition, the fundamentals were there for a South Carolina team that is heading to Las Vegas this week for two games against high-major opponents.
“I think it has to be who we are, a mark of who we are, a product of who we are, a team that is fighting Gamecocks,” Staley said of her defense’s aggressiveness. “You got to get multiple efforts in that area. We’re talented, but if you see somebody equally as talented, like we’ll see in the next few games, something has to give. I do think that area can be a difference maker of us, winning or losing. And I’m glad we’re finally seeing it.”
The return of Maddy McDaniel
Sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel made her first appearance for the Gamecocks after a four-game absence. McDaniel left South Carolina’s season opener with a leg injury and missed the following game because of that injury.
Then South Carolina announced McDaniel was suspended right before the team’s third game of the year against rival Clemson. No reason was given for McDaniel’s suspension — she missed the three games.
McDaniel was reinstated from her suspension on Thursday.
“Maddy is a great young lady,” Staley said. “She is of great character. But some of the choices that you make have consequences. It was more on Maddy and how she’s communicating with me and our staff, and communicating with her teammates. Her teammates are the ones that was her voice. They had a more powerful voice when it comes to that. Obviously they like Maddy. They like all their teammates. They want our entire team together and they voiced that.”
The Gamecocks had to play with just nine players in McDaniel’s absence, and her return gives USC 10 available players again. It also allows Staley to completely sub out her starters at any given moment in the game.
McDaniel played 12 minutes against Queens. She totaled two points and three assists.
She received a big applause from the crowd in Colonial Life Arena on Sunday when she got up to check in to the game at the scorer’s table. McDaniel wore a brace on her right knee.
South Carolina WBB’s next four games
- Wednesday: vs Duke in Players Era Championship in Las Vegas, 4:30 p.m. (truTV)
- Thursday: vs Texas or UCLA in Players Era Championship in Las Vegas, 8 or 10:30 p.m. (truTV)
- Dec. 4: at Louisville, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
- Dec. 7: vs NC Central, Noon (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published November 23, 2025 at 3:58 PM.
