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Te'a Cooper Transfers to South Carolina
Women's Basketball  . 

Te'a Cooper Transfers to South Carolina

June 6, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley announced that Te’a Cooper (Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern HS/Tennessee) has signed a financial aid agreement to attend the University and play for the Gamecocks. The transfer from Tennessee will sit out 2017-18 per NCAA rules and have two years of eligibility remaining beginning in the 2018-19 season.

“Adding a talent such as Te’a Cooper to our Gamecock family complements the players that we have,” Staley said. “Her experience playing against top level competition will be a tremendous addition in sustaining our success.”

Cooper was an SEC All-Freshman Team selection in 2015-16 after finishing fourth in scoring on that Tennessee team, which advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. She averaged 8.6 points, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals in her first collegiate season, drawing 15 starts among her 36 games played. Cooper suffered a knee injury in Summer 2016, which forced her to sit out the 2016-17 campaign.

As a high school senior, Cooper was ranked as high as the No. 1 point guard in the Class of 2014, and was the No. 12 overall recruit in the class according to espnW HoopGurlz. A McDonald’s All-American, she also earned that status from USA Today, Parade and MaxPreps. She was the Georgia Sports Writers Association Miss Basketball in 2014 and 2015.

Cooper is the sixth addition to the Gamecock roster, five of whom are immediately eligible to take the court – graduate transfer Lindsey Spann (Laurel, Md./Good Counsel/Penn State) and freshmen Bianca Jackson (Montgomery Ala./Brewbaker Tech Magnet), Elisia Grissett (Durham, N.C./Hillside), Haley Troup (Gadsden, Ala./Gadsden) and LaDazhia Williams (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch).