Gamecocks Wrap Up Pre-Holiday Schedule Saturday at FGCU

South Carolina Gamecocks (11-1)
Head Coach: Dawn Staley
Top Scorer: Joyce Edwards (21.4)
Top Rebounder: Madina Okot (11.0)

FGCU Eagles (3-5)
Head Coach: Raina Harmon
Top Scorer: Sinai Douglas (10.4)
Top Rebounder: Sinai Douglas (6.3)

Gamecock Notables

• South Carolina’s paint dominance reached a record level on Thursday at USF as the Gamecocks tied the program best with 74 points in the paint. On the season, they are second in the nation with 52.5 paint points per game and are out-scoring opponents in that space by 30.0 points per game.

• All five Gamecock starters are shooting over 50.0 percent from the field on the season, led by Madina Okot (.625) and Joyce Edwards (.616) who rank eighth and 11th in the nation, respectively, in that category. Tessa Johnson is the only player in the SEC ranked among the league’s top 15 in overall and 3-point field goal percentage, hitting 51.8 percent overall (11th) and 46.2 percent from the arc (3rd). Ta’Niya Latson is 12th in the SEC at 51.4 percent, and Raven Johnson rounds out the group at 51.8 percent. The numbers are career-bests for all but Okot, who was second in the SEC last season at 64.9 percent shooting.

• South Carolina is fourth in the nation with 7.1 blocks per game and has blocked 16.6 percent of its opponents’ 2-point attempts to rank fourth in the country as well, according to Her Hoop Stats.

• The Gamecock defense has been working its way onto the wrong list for Santa, averaging 16.7 steals over the last three games. In that time, they have forced opponents into an average of 28.3 turnovers and turned those into 37.7 points per game.

• Junior guard Tessa Johnson is finding confidence and balance in her game this season, balancing her scoring with 48.3 percent of her points coming from 3-point range and 34.9 percent in the paint en route to a career-high 13. 5 points per game. She also is at a career-high level with 2.6 assists per game. Over the last three games, Johnson averaged 17.0 points on 54.1 percent shooting, including 43.8 percent from 3-point range.

• The silver lining of a few Gamecocks being out for injury or illness the last three games has been the increased playing time for the bench. The quartet of Maryam Dauda, Maddy McDaniel, Ayla McDowell and Adhel Tac has seen its minutes increase to nearly 20 minutes per game each and the group has added 21.7 points and 15.7 rebounds per game in that stretch.

By the Numbers
2 – The Gamecocks are second in the nation in field goal percentage, hitting 53.6 percent of their shots.

+10.6 – Over the last five games, including a pair of ranked opponents, South Carolina has a +10.6 turnover margin

40.7 – The Gamecocks have allowed opponents to shoot just 40.7 percent in the paint this season.

The FGCU Series
The Gamecocks are 1-0 all-time against FGCU with the lone meeting coming in the 2012 Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, USVI. South Carolina took the 65-46 victory en route to winning their division at the tournament.

That’s So Raven
Senior point guard Raven Johnson has been at the tip of the spear for the Gamecocks on both sides of the ball and has led the team to nothing but winning.

In Johnson’s fourth full season, South Carolina is 118-6 with her in the lineup (missed one game each in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons), including a 36-4 mark against ranked teams. That stretch features three trips to the Final Four, including a National Championship (2024) and runner-up finish (2025), three SEC Regular-Season titles and three SEC Tournament championships in the three full seasons of her career.

Johnson is seventh in program history in career assists (486 – 6th is Lisa Diaz, 498) and fifth in the category for SEC play (166). She owns three of the top seven single-season assist-to-turnover ratios in program history, including a program-record 3.33 mark in SEC play in 2024-25. Her current career 2.88 A:TO (486:169) is well ahead of the current program record of 2.55 by WNBA veteran Tyasha Harris (2017-20).

The powerful guard makes her presence felt on the glass as well, averaging 4.1 rebounds for her career, and she has been the team’s top rebounder in 12 games, including two games this season (Grand Canyon, Penn State).

This season, Johnson is 15th in the nation and fifth in the SEC in assists per game (6.3), including a pair of double-digit assist games. She is fifth in the nation and second in the SEC with a 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Her stat stuffing includes 9.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. She is shooting 51.8 percent from the field, including 41.4 percent form 3-point range – both career-best numbers. Against ranked opponents, her numbers rise to 10.7 points per game on 52.0 percent shooting, 60.0 percent from 3-point range, and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Johnson has a pair of double-doubles this season in two different ways – 11 points, 11 assists vs. Bowling Green; 14 points, 11 rebounds vs. #8/10 Southern Cal.