Will Chloe Kitts, Ashlyn Watkins be back next year? The latest from Dawn Staley
The 2025-26 season isn’t over yet, but Dawn Staley and the South Carolina women’s basketball team already know they’re getting back two big pieces for next year.
Forward Chloe Kitts will be returning for her final year of college eligibility in the 2026-27 season, Staley told local media Wednesday. Kitts has missed the entire year after an ACL tear that happened just before the season started.
“Chloe will come back next year,” Staley said.
Kitts’ eventual return hasn’t been a big secret. Her father, Jason Kitts, shared with WACH Fox’s Matt Dowell back in January, and later confirmed to The State, that her rehab and been going great, and she planned to be back with the Gamecocks.
Kitts has been around the team throughout her rehab process and has been on the bench with teammates during games. In recent months she’s been doing slight workouts and shooting drills in periods of practice that media members are permitted to watch.
Kitts averaged a career-high 10.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in her junior year last season. She was named the SEC Tournament’s MVP after she averaged 16.7 points and 7.7 rebounds during the Gamecocks’ run to another championship. Kitts was also named to the All-Birmingham Regional 2 team during the NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina will also be getting forward Ashlyn Watkins back next season, per Staley.
Watkins announced last summer she planned to take this season off from basketball. She was not enrolled in school but has still been rehabbing an ACL injury sustained in January of last season with the Gamecocks.
“Ashlyn took the year off, so she’ll come back when the year’s up and that’s sometime in May,” Staley said.
The 2024-25 season was tumultuous for Watkins. She was suspended from the Gamecocks’ opener as a result of an August arrest, though all charges were eventually dismissed. Watkins played 14 games and was averaging 7.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks before her injury last season.
When at her best, Watkins is an All-SEC player who brings a dominant presence on both ends of the floor for South Carolina.
The verdict is still out on if Staley and the Gamecocks will also be getting Madina Okot for another year. Okot is listed as a senior but is playing in just her second year of college basketball in the United States. She started her career with two seasons at Zetech University in Kenya before playing at Mississippi State last season.
As such, South Carolina would have to appeal for another year of eligibility for Okot. Staley says USC plans to do that.
“We’re trying to get a year back,” Staley said. “Whether or not we’ll be able to do that and prove that the conditions that she played in her first two years in Kenya were not comparable to NCAA standards.”
If Okot can’t return she’ll likely take her talents to the professional level. Okot, who is averaging 13.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, was projected to be a first round pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft in ESPN’s latest mock draft.
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 2:15 PM.
