Injuries healed, South Carolina women’s roster nearing full strength

It was an unfamiliar but welcome sight.

Dawn Staley looked around at practice Wednesday and saw five players on the sideline, waiting to replace the other five. Another rode the stationary bike while three more were ready to run with the scout team.

After signing the fullest bench of her tenure at South Carolina, it was nice for Staley to see it all together again.

“Feels like we are just kind of moving in the right direction, getting the production that we need and getting the confidence,” Staley said. “When you’re down a player or two, you feel it in practice. It’s feeling a lot better in practice for us.”

The Gamecocks have continued to win despite a wounded roster over the past month, but it was getting to a point where if one more player got hurt, Staley was going to have to beg one of the men’s practice squad to don a wig and hope nobody noticed. USC was edging toward playing five players for 40 minutes each.

But A’ja Wilson didn’t have to miss any time after a bad-looking leg injury and Tiffany Mitchell was OK after a nasty spill under the basket. Asia Dozier missed five games with a busted hand but returned at Alabama on Monday, and Jatarie White was in practice on Wednesday after missing two games because of illness.

USC couldn’t have a full roster at a better time. The Gamecocks are limping toward the finish line, with several players having to play many more minutes than they’re used to. With injured players returning, many can rest and get ready for the most crucial time of the season.

“Coach Staley said it today -- finally having our whole team back again, everybody getting back healthy,” Dozier said. “Being able to spare people minutes, get people some rest. Always good to come in and give your teammates a break.”

Dozier returned to the starting lineup and should retain her spot as USC heads to Ole Miss on Thursday for its final road game of the season. Staley could have waited to put Dozier back in but wanted to use her as much as possible with her hand still bandaged.

“I wanted her to psychologically get over the fact that the hand will hurt, but it’s not going to hurt for the same reason it hurt two weeks ago,” Staley said. “It’s going to hurt because it’s got more activity. It felt really good to have her out there.”

If White can play – she’ll want to, but her stamina may not be ready, Staley said – that will give Wilson and Alaina Coates some rest. That’s been a good and bad thing – the Gamecocks needed them on the floor and as fresh as possible, but even when they weren’t, Sarah Imovbioh was able to get reps she normally wouldn’t get.

Staley can mix and match her lineups with an eye on extended rest in the near future. The Gamecocks finish the regular season Sunday and are then off until Friday, when they begin the SEC tournament. After the tournament they’ll have at least 12 days before they play again.

Legs can mend, bruises can heal. Once those 12 days are up, the Gamecocks want to be at their most healthy, and best.

“Everybody’s logged a lot of minutes, especially our bigs. They weren’t used to playing so many tiring minutes on both sides of the ball,” Staley said. “We want to be at full strength, so if we need to rest some people down the stretch, we’ll get a chance to do so.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 12:15 AM.