The reigning national champion South Carolina women's basketball team gained three players for the 2024-25 season. The Gamecocks' new additions include freshman forward Joyce Edwards, freshman guard Maddy McDaniel and junior forward Maryam Dauda.
In their brief time in Columbia, all three players have learned that the team operates with a team-first mentality.
Edwards, a Camden, South Carolina native, was ranked the No. 2 recruit in the class of 2024 by ESPN and earned Gatorade National Player of the Year honors after her senior year of high school. During the 2023-24 season, she averaged 31.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, in addition to playing varsity soccer and volleyball. Edwards has also had the opportunity to showcase her talent on the international stage after being named to USA Basketball's U18 National Team in 2024.
Despite her familiarity with the spotlight, Edwards said she has not thought about personal goals, instead focusing on those of the team.
“I’m not coming in really to start,” Edwards said. “I just want to come in and learn, do whatever I can just to provide whatever I can provide to the team.”
Dauda is the Gamecocks' lone newcomer with college basketball experience, as she transferred within the SEC from Arkansas. She started every game for the Razorbacks last season season and finished the campaign first on the team in blocks (74), offensive rebounds (79) and field goal percentage (45.5%).
But, like Edwards, she does not expect to have the same amount of playing time at South Carolina. Dauda said different players will have the opportunity to shine during each game.
“I knew what I was signing up for coming in, and I just felt like I saw Coach (Dawn) Staley’s vision,” Dauda said. “Some nights, it's not going to be my night, some nights it might be somebody else’s night… I just feel like I shouldn’t let that bring me down or bring my game down.”
This team-first mentality of Gamecock women’s basketball, however, does not diminish the individual work players must commit to, Edwards said.
McDaniel was the No. 12 recruit in the class of 2024, according to ESPN, and the first incoming freshman to sign with the Gamecocks. She averaged 17.9 points, five assists and 4.7 steals per game during her senior year of high school.
McDaniel said, during her recruiting process, she was searching for a second home to provide “tough love” and eventually found it in South Carolina. She said being part of the Gamecock women's basketball team will help her improve her game.
"I have four years, and it's only July," McDaniel said. "I have so much more to learn. I have so much more to grow, to get stronger and be better."
McDaniel added that she has found a mentor in senior guard Raven Johnson, who reminds her that assimilating to the team is a day-by-day process and that "she is where she is supposed to be."
For Dauda, Staley has served as a motivational figure who has helped calm her nerves during practice.
"My first practice, Coach Staley, she came up to me, and she was like, 'I can see in your face that you look nervous. It's okay to be nervous. It's okay to mess up. When everybody else came in, they messed up too... You just got to keep going and pushing hard and just don't stop playing,'" Dauda said.
Dauda said she gave herself grace when making mistakes from that moment on.
While each of South Carolina's newcomers aim to learn and grow during their first seasons in Columbia, Edwards said the team as a whole is focused on one goal – claiming a second-straight national title and third in the past four years.
"Obviously, (the goal is) to win a national championship. That's, you know, a team thing," Edwards said. "This is a team mindset."