Gamecocks Hall of Famer set to take over Midlands girls basketball program
White Knoll is hiring a South Carolina Gamecocks Hall of Famer to lead its girls basketball program.
Shaunzinski Gortman will be the Timberwolves’ new coach. Her hire has been approved by Lexington 1 school board. . She replaces Coretta Scott-Ferguson, who left to become the head coach at Irmo.
Gortman has been at Fairfield Central for the past three seasons, winning more than 30 games and leading the Griffins to the playoffs in each of her three years.
Gortman becomes the third former South Carolina player to take over a Midlands basketball program over the last couple of months, joining Aaron Lucas (Ridge View girls) and Larry Davis (Brookland-Cayce boys).
Gortman was a standout at Keenan High and went on to star for the Gamecocks and then in professional basketball. She was highly recruited coming out of high school but picked the Gamecocks over programs like Tennessee and North Carolina.
In four years (105 games) at South Carolina, Gortman scored 1,367 points, snagged 576 rebounds and had 318 assists and 212 steals. She led the team in 3-point percentage as a junior and senior, earning second-team All-SEC honors in 2000-01 and first team All-SEC along with honorable mention All-America in 2001-02. That same year, she led the Gamecocks team to a 25-7 record and its first ever Elite Eight.
In 2023, Gortman was enshrined in the USC Letterman’s Hall of Fame.
“I think that was one of my proudest moments,” Gortman told The State in 2023.
After USC, Gortman was selected by Charlotte Sting with the ninth pick in the first round of the 2002 WNBA Draft and was traded to Minnesota later on draft night. She became the first ever South Carolina player picked in the WNBA Draft.
Gortman played 77 games over four years in the WNBA and also played overseas.
White Knoll is coming off a 17-9 season, the most wins for the program in more than a decade. The Wolves graduate their top two scorers but return a good nucleus of players.
Midlands high school basketball openings
Boys basketball
School — Former Coach — New Coach
Brookland-Cayce — Robert Wells — Larry Davis
Gray Collegiate — Carlos Powell — Dion Bethea
Lexington — Elliott Pope — Robert Wells
Girls basketball
Brookland-Cayce — Jamaal Brown — Terrence Gibson
Chapin — Chad Boland — Terence Jones
Irmo — Trina Wagstaff — Coretta Ferguson
Lower Richland — Aaron Lucas — TBA
Northside Christian — Jordan Leath — TBA
Ridge View — Terrence Gibson — Aaron Lucas
River Bluff — Candice Cobb — Jordan Leath
Spring Valley — Megan Assey — Megan Davis
White Knoll — Coretta Ferguson — Shaunzinski Gortman
This story was originally published June 2, 2025 at 12:49 PM.
