5-star Gamecock WBB target MiLaysa Fulwiley locks in decision date. Here’s the latest
It’s almost decision time for the state’s top girls basketball player.
Keenan senior guard MiLaysia Fulwiley will announce her college choice at 2 p.m. on Nov. 10 at her high school. The announcement will come on the second day of the fall signing period.
South Carolina is one of the final schools Fulwiley is considering. Florida, Louisville, Miami and Ole Miss were the others that were part of her final five schools announced in August, but Miami has since been eliminated from the mix.
Fulwiley took official visits to the other four schools over the past two months.
“I’m ready to finally pick my school and get ready to go there,” Fulwiley told The State after practice this week. “All the visits were great and I loved all of them. When I have been going on my visits, I have been writing down the pros and cons of each, what I did and didn’t like of each school.”
Fulwiley said she hasn’t made up her mind yet and will spend the weekend and early next week talking with her mother before announcing her choice.
Fulwiley’s last official visit was to South Carolina, where she attended the Gamecocks’ football game against Missouri among other typical activities that are part of a recruiting weekend. The Gamecocks and Ole Miss have been recruiting her the longest, both offering her on the same day at a tournament while she was in the seventh grade.
Fulwiley said USC coach Dawn Staley’s recruiting advice has been pretty simple.
“She told me to go with my heart and go with whichever one feels like home,” she said.
South Carolina has two commitments for the Class of 2023 — Sahnya Jah from Montverde High School in Florida, and Tessa Johnson from Minnesota.
The Gamecocks are the defending national champions and have done a great job of keeping top in-state talent home under Dawn Staley. USC signed Cardinal Newman’s Ashlyn Watkins and East Clarendon’s Talaysia Cooper for the Class of 2022.
Fulwiley and Watkins were AAU teammates and have a good relationship.
“Me and Ashlyn have been close for a very long time. We have played with each other for years,” Fulwiley said. “Obviously, that would be great if I go there (to USC) and continue to play with Ashlyn.”
Fulwiley has been one of the most dynamic playmakers to come through the state in some time. She is a five-star prospect and ranked No. 13 nationally by ESPN HoopGurlz. Her highlight reels are regular viewing on the social media sites including Overtime and SLAM.
Fulwiley can play both the point and shooting guard spots and has been on varsity since being called up before the playoffs during her seventh-grade year. She was part of Keenan’s state title team that season and has led Raiders to three straight Class 3A championships.
Keenan will be the favorite again in Class 2A this year, with the Raiders dropping down a classification because of realignment.
The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 29.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 4.6 steals this past season and went over 2,000 points for her career. Fulwiley spent the summer traveling the country playing for Team Curry AAU team and various national all-star games.
Fulwiley played in the Under Armour Next Elite 24 event in Chicago, which was televised on ESPN2 and also featured Camden’s Joyce Edwards, the top recruit in the country for Class of 2024. She had 11 points in that event.
Fulwiley also was the MVP of the SLAM All-Star event at Rucker Park in New York.
One of the other highlights of Fulwiley’s summer came while attending Steph Curry’s invitation-only camp in San Francisco.
“My summer was great. I traveled around the world. I got to meet Steph Curry. He is an NBA champion, legend. It was good to get all that information and soak everything in,” Fulwiley said. “He was there twice a day at every training session. He was giving us advice on all the small things that we might have not known at the time.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 8:58 AM.
