Aug. 19, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley announced today that her team will play its 2014-15 season under the theme “one.” In her seventh season at the helm, the Naismith Hall of Famer annually develops a theme for both her team and its fans to rally around for the season. Fans will see the Gamecocks define the broader theme in different ways throughout the season to highlight the various aspects of the program that impact its success.

“We come into this season in a different position than we’re used to, with high expectations – ours and others’,” Staley said. “We want that, but to thrive in that environment, we’re going to have to come together and focus on the collective more than on any individual person. Every person in our program is going to have to be committed to the whole, the `one,’ if we want to reach our goal of being the one team standing at the end of this season.”

South Carolina enters the 2014-15 season with 10 returning letterwinners from last season’s SEC Champion squad, and Staley added the nation’s second-best recruiting class, according to ESPN, to the group. The Gamecocks have won at least 25 games in each of the last three seasons, advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 twice in that stretch. The returning group includes all five starters, including SEC Player of the Year and All-American Tiffany Mitchell, SEC Freshman and Co-Sixth Player of the Year Alaina Coates, two-time All-SEC selection Aleighsa Welch and the program’s top single-season shot blocker Elem Ibiam. The five-member freshman class includes three McDonald’s All-Americans with a pair of top-10 signees in A’ja Wilson (No. 1) and Jatarie White (No. 7) highlighting the group. Two other top-35 signees are in the class with Kaydra Duckett coming in at No. 32 and Bianca Cuevas ranked No. 35 in the nation.

For the 2014-15 season, reserved seat season tickets are $50 each. General Admission tickets start at $100 for a Family Four Pack. The South Carolina Ticket Office is currently accepting deposits on 2014-15 season tickets via the website, www.GamecocksOnline.com/tickets, or by calling 1-800-4SC-FANS.