South Carolina women's basketball entered the season with 10 returning members of the 2024 National Championship team, including four starters and plenty of depth.
The only loss the Gamecocks suffered was former center Kamilla Cardoso, the 2024 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, to the WNBA . Head coach Dawn Staley addressed the loss of her star player with two freshman commits and a player from the transfer portal - former Arkansas junior forward Maryam Dauda.
Dauda committed to play for Staley and the Gamecocks after two seasons with Arkansas, averaging 10.1 points per game to go with 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game with the Razorbacks. Dauda came to Columbia, South Carolina, with a unique skillset as a 6-foot-4 post player - the ability to knock down 3-pointers, shooting at a 31.9% clip on 2.9 attempts per game in her sophomore season.
Staley praised Dauda at SEC Media Day ahead of the 2025 season.
"She's coachable, like anything that we ask her to do, she does," Staley said. "I do think she's going to help our basketball team."
For Dauda, those opportunities to help that team have come sparingly over the season, as she fit into the rotation as the fourth, sometimes fifth, player off Staley's bench. In the forward group, there were only so many minutes to go around between senior Sania Feagin, junior Chloe Kitts and freshman Joyce Edwards. Those minutes were cut even shorter in the first half of the season before sophomore forward Ashlyn Watkins suffered a season ending injury.
Overall, Dauda has averaged 6.5 minutes per game, scoring 2.2 points per game alongside 1.9 rebounds per game in 33 games played. She scored her season-high with 10 points back on Nov. 14 in a 92-60 blowout of Coppin State. Her season-high in conference play also came in a blowout of the Arkansas Razorbacks on Feb. 20. She scored 9 points in the win.
Dauda's minutes continued to stagger in the NCAA Tournament - but all that changed when Staley checked her into the Final Four matchup with Texas at the 5:51 mark of the first quarter, subbing her in for Feagin on Friday night.
Two minutes after checking in, Dauda made her presence known, snatching an offensive rebound off a missed layup by sophomore guard Tessa Johnson and drawing a foul under the basket.
Dauda left the possession with a free throw. She played a critical role in the first quarter for the Gamecocks, getting involved in a bench unit that helped South Carolina stay afloat against Texas after a slow 12-4 start.
"I needed to be the spark to go in and help our team because we started off so slow," Dauda said. "I had to go in and do the little things, not just scoring, but also playing defense on their bigs."
Dauda got her next run of action in the third quarter, and it was a lot of the action away from the ball that made her minutes so impactful. Matched up with Texas junior center Kyla Oldacre, standing at 6-foot-6, Dauda used the threat as a 3-point shooter to space the floor for the Gamecocks.
Although Dauda didn't score, she took Oldacre out of the paint, which gave Edwards and Tessa Johnson driving lanes to get into the paint and score.
Defensively, Dauda held her own against the bigger matchup. The Gamecocks prioritized double-teaming Oldacre once she got the ball down low, and the strategy worked to perfection with Dauda in the fold. Oldacre finished with just 4 points on 1-3 shooting, while also turning the ball over three times. Senior guard Te-Hina Paopao saw the impact that Dauda brought defensively.
"She's trusted her process, her journey and played great minutes today," Paopao said. "She did a really good job on the post players today in her defense and offense and just being able to do what she does at such a high level and on a big platform."
As the Gamecocks were pulling away late in the fourth quarter, there was just one thing left for Dauda to do - knock down a three-pointer. Dauda didn't look to score for much of the game, but she got her moment with 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter when sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley drove into the paint and found Dauda in the corner.
Dauda, wide open in front of the South Carolina bench, laced the pointer, electrifying the South Carolina bench.
"She came here and that's what she typically does is shoots 3s as a post," senior guard Bree Hall said. "But I feel there was a slump where she kind of lost her confidence. But just to see her hit that 3, it was such a joyful moment. Just so proud of her."
It can be easy to throw in the towel after not getting a lot of playing time across a long season like Dauda did, but she endured and got the chance to compete in valuable minutes with South Carolina's season on the line. For Dauda, it was a moment of relief - to see her shot go in after playing 16 valuable minutes for her team in the Final Four to help go to the National Championship. Dauda got her opportunity on the biggest stage of college basketball, and she met the moment.
"It felt great," Dauda said. "I was like, 'You know, whatever game it happens in.' And I guess it was the Texas game. I'm happy it happened in the fourth quarter."
What's next?
Look out for Dauda and the rest of the Gamecocks in the Women's Basketball National Championship game against the UConn Huskies on Sunday afternoon at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Tip off is set for 3 p.m. and will be broadcast on ABC.