Dawn Staley ‘getting some help’ to bring home former Gamecocks playing in Israel
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is hoping to get three former Gamecocks back from Israel amid the ongoing joint military action by the United States and Israel against the country of Iran.
Staley wrote on X/Twitter Saturday that former Gamecocks Destiny Littleton, Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan and Tiffany Mitchell are all currently “in a war zone” while playing overseas in Israel, which has been the target of attacks from Iranian forces.
In her initial post, Staley said a plan was in the works to get the three former players home to the United States safely. She emphasized that in her press conference Sunday after South Carolina beat Kentucky 60-56 in Lexington.
“No updates. Everything’s still the same,” Staley said Sunday. “But, we are getting some help from some people who are in decision-making positions. But there’s nothing you can do. You can still hear things that are going off, the sirens and everything that goes on in a war zone.”
Littleton, who is in the city of Jerusalem, has shared frequent updates on her social media pages since the strikes began in the early hours of Saturday morning. On Sunday afternoon, she shared in a post that she was safe from recent bombings.
“I am doing all right — shaken up but blessed to be safe,” Littleton told ESPN Sunday. “There are current options being looked at and (we’ll) know more information once we have executed those options to safely get out.”
Littleton said in a post on Instagram early Monday morning that she remained safe, and “today’s focus is to see what options we have getting out of the Middle East safely and I hope one can arise and be carried out soon.”
Littleton played two of her college seasons with the Gamecocks and won a national title with South Carolina in 2022. Herbert-Harrigan was an All-SEC player during her time with the Gamecocks and won a national championship with South Carolina in 2017. Mitchell was an All-American and one of Staley’s first stars at South Carolina, she was a member of the first Final Four team in program history in 2015.
Littleton, 26, was playing for Hapoel Jerusalem in Israel’s top women’s basketball division this season, per eurobasket.com. Herbert-Harrigan, 27, was also playing in Israeli D1 for the team Elitzur Ramla. It’s unclear what team Mitchell, 31, was playing for this season.
Mitchell played for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm last year, and Herbert-Harrigan played in the WNBA in 2024. Professional women’s basketball players often play overseas or in other leagues during the WNBA offseason to supplement salaries.
Littleton said in a Sunday interview with FOX News Digital that Staley, USC’s longtime coach, assured her over the phone that South Carolina leaders are “doing everything they can to get us home safe.”
“She really cares about her babies,” Littleton told FOX News. “We’ll forever be her babies. And she’s trying to be there for us from 7,000 miles away. As the type of person she is, she is going to use her reach to make sure that we can get home as safe as possible. So it’s been a lot of checking in and making sure we’re okay.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 9:24 AM.
