How lessons from USC, Dawn Staley fueled a career year for this Gamecocks transfer

The colors and logo are different, but nothing else is.

Former South Carolina women’s basketball center Sakima Walker made her name for herself as a member of the Gamecocks’ 2023-24 and 2024-25 teams, rarely playing but providing veteran leadership and a steady locker room presence for what coach Dawn Staley often described as a “daycare” atmosphere with a young team that won a championship and played for another.

Walker transferred to California for her final year of eligibility in 2025-26, and she still takes pride in delivering the same value for her new teammates.

“It’s the same thing,” Walker told The State last week. “I’m Mama Bear.”

While her game action was few and far between on Staley’s loaded rosters, Walker has been a regular presence for a Cal program that in 2025 made its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019 and is likely WNIT bound in 2026.

Walker has started all but one game this season and is averaging 11.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks, top two among Golden Bears in all three departments.

“We can’t do it without her,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “I’m just proud of how she’s worked and the role that she’s stepped into with this team. We told her that she’d be a big piece of our success.”

How Sakima Walker is using time from USC at Cal

In a long, winding collegiate path now on its fourth school, Walker credits her time in Columbia with a lot of what she has brought to Berkeley. She has a 6-foot-6 frame that makes her the biggest player on most courts. Likewise, the natural athleticism and ability has been with her since high school, enough to earn her initial opportunity at Rutgers and one with Staley’s Gamecocks after a junior college stop at Northwest Florida State.

Everything else filled in at South Carolina. The leadership, knowledge of the game and understanding of how to get the best out of herself and everyone around her came from two years of cutting her teeth with one of the nation’s elite programs.

Walker transferred from USC to Cal last April.

“My IQ,” Walker said of the biggest thing she learned from South Carolina and now uses at Cal. “Just taking the knowledge I took and learned from that program and carrying it over into leadership as a veteran.”

Combine all of it with regular playing time, and she feels like she is her best self as her college career nears its conclusion in its sixth season.

“I would just say my confidence has grown just from coming here,” Walker said. “My teammates and my support staff and everyone at Cal, honestly, even from outside of basketball, have just continued to pour into me since I’ve gotten here. And I feel like being confident really helps.”

At this point every game could be her last as a college player, and she knows it. She has been through the rigors and stress of playing basketball into early April, and wants to take a different approach to this go around, however long it lasts.

“It’s been fun,” she said. “Just being around my teammates. They keep me happy and laughing all the time. It’s my last year, so I’m making the most of it.”

What’s next for Sakima Walker after college?

Cal was the No. 10 seed in last week’s ACC women’s basketball tournament outside Atlanta. The Golden Bears won their first game against No. 15 Wake Forest before losing in the second round to No. 7 Syracuse.

Walker had a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double in a win over the Demon Deacons and a team-high 19 points on 9-15 shooting in Cal’s loss to Syracuse.

Cal heads into Selection Sunday at 19-14 and isn’t listed among the first four teams or next four teams out of the 68-team field in ESPN’s latest bracketology, indicating it’ll probably wind up in the second-tier WNIT tournament.

Off the court, Walker will graduate from Cal this summer with her second master’s degree in Cultural Studies of Sport in Education before looking toward the future. She still has her sights firmly set on playing basketball postgrad but didn’t say if she was looking to play professionally overseas.

“We’ll see,” Walker said, laughing. “Stay tuned.”

Wherever she goes, she will have fans in Columbia and now Berkeley.

This story was originally published March 10, 2026 at 7:10 AM.