2021–22 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team explained

Mode:	Women's basketball
Year:	2021–22
Prev Year:	2020–21
Next Year:	2022–23
Team:	South Carolina Gamecocks
Conference:	Southeastern Conference
Short Conf:	SEC
Coachrank:	1
Aprank:	1
Record:	35–2
Conf Record:	15–1
Hc Year:	14th
Champion:	NCAA tournament national champions Battle 4 Atlantis champions SEC regular-season champions

The 2021–22 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Gamecocks were led by 14th-year head coach Dawn Staley and played their home games at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. They competed as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They finished the season 35–2, 15–1 in SEC play, to win the regular season championship. They defeated Arkansas and Ole Miss to advance to the championship of the SEC tournament where they lost to Kentucky. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Greensboro region. They defeated Howard, Miami, North Carolina, Creighton and Louisville to advance to the championship game. There they defeated UConn for the team's second-ever national title.

Aliyah Boston won Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year while head coach Dawn Staley was named Naismith Coach of the Year. The Gamecocks were ranked No. 1 in both polls for the entire year, and finished ranked No. 1 in the AP, Coaches, NET, RPI, ELO, SOS and Massey rankings.^[1] ^[2]

Previous season

The Gamecocks finished the season with a 26–5 overall record and a 14–2 record in conference play. The Gamecocks won the SEC tournament. The Gamecocks therefore received an automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, where they reached the Final Four, losing to Stanford 66–65.

Offseason

2021 recruiting class

The Gamecocks signed the #1 class for 2021 according to ESPN.^[3] their second #1 class in three years.

Incoming transfers

Preseason

Hall of Fame coach Dawn Staley entered her fourteenth year at South Carolina, fresh off winning an Olympic gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning all six games as head coach of Team USA.^[4]

South Carolina was named AP preseason #1 for the second straight season, as they return every player from the previous year's Final Four team, added the #1 recruiting class, adding four 5-star recruits, three of which were ranked in the top 5. They also added ACC Freshman of the Year and former 5-star recruit 6'8" Kamillia Cardoso.^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

Award watchlists

Nancy Lieberman Award^[8]	Destanni Henderson	PG	SR
Ann Meyers Drysdale Award^[9]	Zia Cooke	SG	JR
Katrina McClain Award^[10]	Sania Feagin	PF	FR
Lisa Leslie Award^[11]	Aliyah Boston	C	JR
Lisa Leslie Award^[11]	Kamilla Cardoso	C	SO
Wooden Award^[12]	Aliyah Boston	C	JR
	Zia Cooke	SG	JR
	Destanni Henderson	PG	SR
Wade Trophy^[13]	Aliyah Boston	C	JR
Wade Trophy^[13]	Zia Cooke	SG	JR
Naismith Trophy^[14]	Aliyah Boston	C	JR
	Zia Cooke	SG	JR
	Destanni Henderson	PG	SR

Preseason All-American teams

First team

Aliyah Boston^[15] – C

SEC coaches poll

The SEC coaches selected the Gamecocks to finish in first place in the SEC.^[16]

Coaches poll
1	South Carolina
2	Texas A&M
3	Tennessee
4	Georgia
5	Kentucky
6	Ole Miss
7	Arkansas
8	LSU
9	Mississippi State
10	Missouri
11	Florida
12	Alabama
13	Auburn
14	Vanderbilt

SEC media poll

SEC media poll
1	South Carolina
2	Texas A&M
3	Tennessee
4	Georgia
5	Kentucky
6	Ole Miss
7	Arkansas
8	LSU
9	Mississippi State
10	Missouri
11	Florida
12	Alabama
13	Auburn
14	Vanderbilt

Preseason All-SEC teams

First team

Aliyah Boston – C

Zia Cooke – SG

Second team

Destanni Henderson – PG

Starting lineup

South Carolina	Position
Aliyah Boston	F
Victoria Saxton	F
Brea Beal	G
Zia Cooke	G
Destanni Henderson	G

Schedule

Statistics

Team total per game

Team	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	REB	AST	STL	BLK	ATT
Gamecocks	2623	975	2289	42.6%	179	585	30.6%	494	731	67.6%	1771	515	239	273	196,286
Opponents	1875	728	2191	33.2%	138	518	26.6%	281	427	65.8%	1117	335	229	153	54,779

Team average per game

Team	PPG	FG	FG%	3P	3P%	FT	FT%	REB	AST	STL	BLK	ATT
Gamecocks	70.9	26.4	42.6%	4.8	30.6%	13.4	67.6%	47.9	13.9	6.5	7.4	12,268
Opponents	50.7	19.7	33.2%	3.7	26.6%	7.6	65.8%	30.2	9.1	6.2	4.1	5,478

Individual total per game

Player	GP	MP	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	3M	3A	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	REB	AST	TO	STL	BLK
Aliyah Boston	37	1056	623	239	441	54.2%	14	48	29.2%	131	170	77.1%	150	312	462	75	57	45	90
Destanni Henderson	34	1053	392	144	357	40.3%	55	138	39.9%	49	68	72.1%	23	84	107	133	72	46	4
Zia Cooke	36	982	385	139	406	34.2%	45	157	28.7%	62	88	70.5%	15	61	76	60	76	22	2
Laeticia Amihere	31	520	195	68	156	43.6%	5	11	45.5%	54	83	65.1%	45	68	113	37	57	19	25
Victaria Saxton	37	794	215	86	171	50.3%	0	1	0.0%	43	67	64.2%	118	98	216	43	44	26	48
Kamilla Cardoso	32	428	174	68	123	55.3%	0	0	0.0%	38	53	71.7%	61	103	164	31	39	11	46
Brea Beal	37	890	187	72	189	38.1%	15	63	23.8%	28	47	59.6%	65	121	186	47	38	26	20
LeLe Grissett	25	308	81	30	71	42.3%	1	1	100%	20	40	50.0%	29	21	50	14	19	7	8
Bree Hall	30	328	97	32	102	31.4%	14	46	30.4%	19	30	63.3%	12	41	53	1	23	5	1
Destiny Littleton	31	281	80	25	70	35.7%	21	61	34.4%	9	12	75.0%	6	33	39	7	15	9	2
Saniya Rivers	27	348	61	24	98	24.5%	1	31	0.32%	12	24	50.0%	5	38	43	38	27	13	13
Eniya Russell	23	176	53	19	45	42.2%	5	12	41.7%	10	17	58.8%	5	25	30	19	16	4	2
Sania Feagin	31	133	58	21	34	61.8%	0	0	0.0%	16	28	57.1%	14	31	45	6	18	5	12
Olivia Thompson	13	41	9	3	13	23.1%	3	13	23.1%	0	0	0.0%	0	2	2	0	0	1	0
Elysa Wesolek	21	78	13	5	12	41.7%	0	3	0.0%	3	4	75.0%	4	9	13	4	7	0	0
Raven Johnson	2	9	1	0	1	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%	0	1	1	0	1	0	0

Individual average per game

Player	GP	MIN	FG%	3P%	FT%	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PPG
Aliyah Boston	37	28.5	54.2%	29.2%	77.1%	4.1	8.4	12.5	2.0	1.2	2.4	16.8
Destanni Henderson	34	31.0	40.3%	39.9%	72.1%	0.7	2.5	3.1	3.9	1.4	0.1	11.5
Zia Cooke	36	27.3	34.2%	28.7%	70.5%	0.4	1.7	2.1	1.7	0.6	0.1	10.7
Laeticia Amihere	31	16.8	43.6%	45.5%	65.1%	1.5	2.2	3.6	1.2	0.6	0.8	6.3
Victoria Saxton	37	21.5	50.3%	0.0%	64.2%	3.2	2.6	5.8	1.2	0.7	1.3	5.8
Kamilla Cardoso	32	13.4	55.3%	0.0%	71.7%	1.9	3.2	5.1	1.0	0.3	1.4	5.4
Brea Beal	37	24.1	38.1%	23.8%	59.6%	1.8	3.3	5.0	1.3	0.7	0.5	5.1
LeLe Grissett	25	12.3	42.3%	100%	50.0%	1.2	0.8	2.0	0.6	0.3	0.3	3.2
Bree Hall	36	9.1	31.4%	30.4%	63.3%	0.3	1.1	1.5	0.0	0.1	0.0	2.7
Destiny Littleton	31	9.1	35.7%	34.4%	75.0%	0.2	1.1	1.3	0.2	0.3	0.1	2.6
Saniya Rivers	27	12.9	24.5%	0.32%	50.0%	0.2	1.4	1.6	1.4	0.5	0.5	2.3
Eniya Russell	23	7.7	42.2%	41.7%	58.8%	0.2	1.1	1.3	0.8	0.2	0.1	2.3
Sania Feagin	31	4.3	61.8%	0.0%	57.1%	0.5	1.0	1.5	0.2	0.2	0.4	1.9
Olivia Thompson	13	3.7	23.1%	23.1%	0.0%	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.7
Elysa Wesolek	21	3.4	41.7%	0.0%	75.0%	0.2	0.4	0.6	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.6
Raven Johnson	2	4.5	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Rankings

See main article: article and 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings.

+ Regular-season polls	Poll	Pre- Season	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15	Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Final
AP	1 (14)	1 (25)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (29)	1 (30)	1 (22)	1 (26)	1 (28)	1 (29)	1 (29)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (30)	1 (17)	1 (20)	1 (20)
Coaches	1 (13)	1 (13)	1 (31)	1 (32)	1 (32)	1 (32)	1 (31)	1 (32)	1 (16)	1 (24)	1 (26)	1 (31)	1 (31)	1 (31)	1 (31)	1 (31)	1 (31)	1 (19)	1 (27)	1 (30)

style="background:#D8FFEB; width:20px;"
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes
NR		Not ranked
		Number of first-place votes

Awards and honors

Aliyah Boston
- Naismith Player of the Year
- United States Basketball Writers Association Player of the Year
- Wade Trophy
- John R. Wooden Award
- Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's Player of the Year
- Associated Press Player of the Year
- Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year
- NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player
- Lisa Leslie Award
- Academic All-American of the Year
- Associated Press first-team All-American
- United States Basketball Writers Association first-team All-American
- Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-American
- SEC Player of the Year
- First-team All-SEC
- SEC Defensive Player of the Year
- SEC All-Defensive Team
Destanni Henderson
- United States Basketball Writers Association third-team All-American
- First-team All-SEC
Zia Cooke
- Second-team All-SEC
Dawn Staley
- Naismith College Coach of the Year
- WBCA National Coach of the Year Award
- USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- SEC Coach of the Year

Notes and References

News: South-Carolina Schedule. WarrenNolan. April 4, 2022. en-US.
News: College Basketball Women's : NCAA D1. Massey Ratings. November 21, 2022. en-US.
News: Laflin . Shane . Key . Jason . and . November 19, 2020 . 2021 women's college basketball recruiting class rankings . October 23, 2021 . ESPN . en-US.
News: Day . Meredith . August 6, 2021 . Team USA Women's Basketball Secures 7th Straight Gold Medal, Defeating Japan . August 8, 2021 . NBC Sports . en-US.
News: October 19, 2021 . South Carolina Gamecocks atop AP preseason women's college basketball poll again . October 23, 2021 . ESPN . en-US.
News: Sweeney . Kevin . October 19, 2021 . South Carolina Takes Top Spot in Women's AP Preseason Top 25 Rankings . October 23, 2021 . Sports Illustrated . en-US.
News: AlBaroudi . Wajih . February 22, 2022 . Women's college basketball rankings: South Carolina is No. 1 . October 23, 2021 . CBS Sports . en-US.
Web site: 20 point guards named to watch list for 2022 Nancy Lieberman Award. NCAA. October 29, 2021. October 30, 2021.
Web site: 20 shooting guards named to 2022 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list. NCAA. October 29, 2021. October 30, 2021.
Web site: 20 power forwards named to watch list for 2022 Katrina McClain Award. NCAA. October 29, 2021. October 30, 2021.
Web site: 20 centers named to 2022 Lisa Leslie Award watch list. NCAA. October 29, 2021. October 30, 2021.
Web site: JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD PRESENTED BY WENDY'S ANNOUNCES 2021-22 WOMEN'S PRESEASON TOP 50 WATCHLIST . WoodenAward. November 9, 2021. November 11, 2021.
Web site: The Wade Trophy. WBCA. November 9, 2021. November 11, 2021.
Web site: Naismith Trophy. naismithtrophy. November 9, 2021. November 11, 2021.
Web site: Feinberg . Doug . October 26, 2021 . Bueckers, Boston, Clark headline AP preseason All-Americans . October 30, 2021 . AP News.
Web site: Hall . Cora . October 29, 2021 . SEC women's basketball coaches predictions for 2021-22 champion, preseason player of year . October 30, 2021 . Knoxville News Sentinel.
Web site: September 8, 2021 . Women's Basketball SEC Schedule Announced . October 27, 2021 . GamecocksOnline.com.