Camden standout, Gamecocks target earns SC’s top girls basketball honor for 2023
After leading her team to a state title last week, Camden High School’s Joyce Edwards picked up another big achievement Wednesday.
The junior was named South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year, an award that encompasses athletics, academics and character.
Edwards is the second Camden player to win the award, joining head coach Natalie Norris (formerly Natalie Funderburk) who won it in 1992. It’s the second-straight year a Midlands girls player has won the award. Cardinal Newman’s Ashlyn Watkins, who is now at South Carolina, was the recipient in 2022.
Edwards is the 15th different girls player from the Midlands to win the award historically. Lower Richland’s Morgan Stroman won it three straight years from 2007-09.
“I say all the time Joyce is the best player in the country,” Camden coach Natalie Norris said after the state championship game. “She showed it today. She handled the ball, she can shoot it, she rebounds, she can pass it. She can do it all and has the size too. We are certainly very fortunate she is on our team.”
Edwards averaged 28.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.5 steals, 2.9 assists and 2.6 blocks this season in helping the Bulldogs to their first state championship since 1981. In the title game against Wren, the 6-foot-3 forward scored 33 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had five steals in the win.
Edwards also went over the 3,000-point mark in career during the game. She has been a starter on varsity since the seventh grade.
Off the court, Edwards has volunteered locally at the Beyond the Court basketball camp as a coach and at the Jackson Teen Center, where she tutors students in math and science. She’s also a member of the National Beta Club.
Edwards is the No. 2 ranked prospect in the country for Class of 2024 by ESPN’s HoopGurlz rankings. She has more than 30 Division I offers, including top-ranked South Carolina.
Edwards said she will be narrowing down her top colleges during the spring and summer.
South Carolina signee Tessa Johnson won the Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year award. Johnson averaged 24.3 points, 6.6 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 steals per games this season and became the school’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,000 points in her career.
SC GATORADE PLAYERS OF YEAR FROM MIDLANDS
2023 – Joyce Edwards, Camden
2022 – Ashlyn Watkins, Cardinal Newman
2019 – Danae McNeal, Swansea
2017 – Jaelynn Murray, Dreher
2016 – Jhileiya Dunlap, Dreher
2014 – A’ja Wilson, Heathwood Hall
2013 – Alaina Coates, Dutch Fork
2012 – Asia Dozier, Spring Valley
2011 – Xylina McDaniel, Spring Valley
2009 – Morgan Stroman, Lower Richland
2008 – Morgan Stroman, Lower Richland
2007 – Morgan Stroman, Lower Richland
2004 – Keturah Jackson, Dreher
2000 – Nikki Jett, Columbia
1997 – Elena Vishniakova, Heathwood Hall
1992 – Natalie Funderburk, Camden
1989 – Jessica Barr, Batesburg-Leesville
