No. 3 South Carolina WBB cruises to big win over Penn State. Three takeaways
South Carolina women’s basketball took care of business in its final home game before the holidays on Sunday.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks overwhelmed Penn State 95-55 at Colonial Life Arena. South Carolina is now 10-1 on the year.
The Gamecocks never trailed in the game (USC led by 12 at halftime) but a big third quarter where they outscored Penn State 29-9 gave them an insurmountable lead. South Carolina, led by a career-high performance from Joyce Edwards, had four different players score in double figures against the Nittany Lions.
USC will hit the road next week with a two-game swing in Florida against a pair of mid-major opponents. The Gamecocks won’t play at home again until after Christmas when they’ll take on Providence on Dec. 28.
Gamecocks without two players in the win
For the seventh time this season, the Gamecocks were missing at least one player entering a game. Both Madina Okot and Agot Makeer went through warmups with the team and were dressed out on the bench, but neither played vs Penn State.
Makeer (concussion protocol) has missed the last three games. Okot, who was named the SEC Player of the Week on Monday, missed the second half of USC’s most recent game against NC Central a week ago. At the time Staley said she was “a little sick.”
Staley didn’t provide any new details as to why Makeer and Okot missed Sunday’s game. Staley did say both players are “day to day” and that South Carolina is being “super conservative” about putting them back in the lineup.
With just three healthy forwards available, Staley and the Gamecocks utilized a four-guard lineup at various times in the game.
Tac finished with two points and three rebounds in 15 minutes. Forward Maryam Dauda provided 18 minutes off the bench and scored three points and grabbed three rebounds.
South Carolina recorded 16 bench points, led by Maddy McDaniel who scored nine.
“I think Maddey is starting to get back into the swing of things,” Staley said. “[Ayla McDowell] is holding serve. I think we can get a little bit more out of Adhel and Maryam, so we just continue to work with that. I think it’s good that Madina didn’t play and they can build some confidence, definitely, defensively. Offensively, we’ll get them going a little bit.”
Okot’s absence evident in key area
While South Carolina was still able to beat Penn State with ease, there was one spot on the box score affected by Okot’s absence.
Penn State out-rebounded South Carolina 51-43 on Sunday. It’s just the second time the Gamecocks have been out-rebounded as a team this season.
“I feel like our biggest problem today was just rebounding,” Edwards said. “[Okot’s] presence in the paint — she like averages a double-double. Collectively as a team, we made [rebounding] our goal.”
Raven Johnson led the team in rebounding against Penn State with Okot, who is averaging a double-double and leads the SEC with 11.1 rebounds per game, out. South Carolina recorded more defense rebounds than Penn State (30-29) but was out-rebounded on the offensive glass 22-13.
Still, South Carolina had no trouble at all scoring in the paint. The Gamecocks scored 60 paint points compared to Penn State’s 24.
Gamecock of the game: Joyce Edwards
Star sophomore forward Joyce Edwards continued to fill up the stat sheet on Sunday.
Edwards led South Carolina with a career-high 29 points against Penn State. She’s scored 20 or more points in six games this season.
“Joyce is gonna play that way with Madina, without Madina, with anybody...she’s gonna play to the best of her ability,” Staley said. “She’s just playing really loose and just finding a way to impact the game through an entire stat line.”
Edwards also notched two other new career-highs with six steals and four blocks. She also tallied four rebounds and five assists in the game. Edwards played 32 minutes and nearly played every minute of the first half.
“Do we want the rebounding to be a little bit better? Yes, we do. But there’s the other stuff, the five assists and no turnovers, the six steals, four blocks, that is who she is,” Staley said. “I do think we are working with her to just kind of be more than a scorer, because she is one that can pretty much fill a stat sheet.”
Honorable mentions go to Raven Johnson and Ta’Niya Latson. Johnson led South Carolina in rebounding (seven) and Latson led in assists (eight).
South Carolina WBB’s next four games
- Thursday at South Florida, TBA (ESPN+)
- Saturday at Florida Gulf Coast, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
- Dec. 28: vs Providence, 12 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Jan. 1 vs Alabama, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published December 14, 2025 at 5:27 PM.
