After the conclusion of the 2024-25 women’s basketball season, the South Carolina Gamecocks will have to say goodbye to four seniors.
While both guard Te-Hina Paopao and center Sakima Walker transferred into the program during the 2023-24 season, guard Bree Hall and forward Sania Feagin were members of the program for their entire collegiate careers from 2021-25.
In that time, the pair won two National Championship in 2022 and 2024, made four consecutive final fours, were a part of a 71 home game winning streak and tallied a record of 144-7 over four years.
“I have to say goodbye to a senior class that had a historical impact on our game, and our program, and our conference, and our city and our state.” head coach Dawn Staley said following the 2025 National Championship.
Hall
Coming out of high school, Hall was ranked as the No. 14 overall player in the the class of 2021 and No. 5 guard at Wayne High School in Dayton, Ohio. She committed to play at the University of South Carolina on Nov. 11, 2020.
As a freshman, Hall didn’t start in a single game for the Gamecocks, but averaged nearly 10 minutes a game. Her best performance came against Vanderbilt where she had 10 points.
Hall’s offensive impact was limited to just under 3 points per game, but she was a key defender during South Carolina’s run to the championship.
Against Kentucky on Jan. 9, Hall helped keep former Kentucky Wildcat Rhyne Howard to just 9 points, tying her season low for points while going 2-14 (14%) from the floor.
The following year, Hall saw a slight increase in her minutes, jumping up to 14 minutes per game while averaging 5 points per game, including an 18-point performance against Alabama.
Hall entered the starting lineup in the first game of her junior year and would remain there for the rest of her career. In that season, she saw improvement in assists, rebounds and points per game. Hall scored a career-high 21 points at Missouri which included her going 4-4 from the three.
Hall returned to South Carolina for her senior year, despite being eligible for the 2024 WNBA Draft. While Hall’s points per game fell from a little over 9 to just above 6, her defense was critical in three wins against Texas.
In the three wins against the Longhorns, Hall held sophomore forward Madison Booker, who won SEC Player of the Year, to 9 points per game including a 4-13 performance in the SEC tournament championship.
Feagin
Feagin played her high school basketball career at Forest Park in Ellenwood, Georgia where her talents had her recognized as the No. 4 ranked player in the class of 2021. She committed to South Carolina in March of 2020.
During Feagin’s freshman season, the Gamecocks already had two premiere post players with Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso on the roster, making it difficult for the freshman to get a heavy amount of minutes.
Feagin averaged just over four minutes a game, with her best performance coming against Howard in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament where she had 10 points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes of action.
In her sophomore season, Feagin's points per game increased to just under 5 per game, with her minutes increasing as well.
She scored in double digits five times that season, with her season-high of 15 coming against East Tennessee State. Feagin also had two games where she posted three blocks.
Feagin’s junior season saw steady improvement for the forward, as she averaged 6.7 points per game and 3.8 rebounds as well. She made her first career start against Arkansas and started two other games later in the season.
Her junior season showed flashes of what the Gamecocks saw in her final year, with Feagin earning her first career double double in a win against Presbyterian in the first round of the 2024 NCAA tournament and blocking five shots against Kentucky.
During her senior year, Feagin became even more of a consistent player in South Carolina’s rotation, averaging 8 points and 1.5 blocks in 38 starts for the Gamecocks.
Her career high was against Ole Miss, where Feagin scored 22 points and blocked five shots. Feagin earned a spot on the SEC All tournament team after averaging 12.6 points per game in the tournament. She was also named to the SEC All-Defense team.
Reflecting on careers
Following the 82-59 loss to the No. 2 seed UConn in the National Championship, Hall was asked about what the program had meant to her and her basketball journey.
“I'm just so appreciative of everything that this program has done for me,” Hall said. “Coach has put me in a great position, I've won two national championships … I can't express how appreciative I am of this program, and I've just had such a great experience here.”
Feagin was asked a similar question, and much like Hall brought up the championships that she had won and the rareness of this accomplishment.
“A lot of people don't have two national championships and made it to the Final Four for four years, so I feel good to be here again,” Feagin said.
While Feagin and Hall were the only two seniors on the team to spend all four years at South Carolina, Paopao also thanked the coaching staff for giving her a home after transferring from Oregon.
“I'm proud of my journey here, and I just want to thank the coaching staff in South Carolina and just being able to pour into someone who was looking for a home, and I found my home,” Paopao said.
The 2021-2025 class, which also includes junior guard Raven Johnson who has a year of eligibility left, has done something that no other class in school history has done with Staley believing the class was instrumental in helping the program reach new heights.
“I just want to show my gratitude, my appreciation for all they've done for our program because they elevated us and took us to a place where we could only imagine,” Staley said.