Sakima Walker

Awards

At South Carolina
2x SEC Academic Honor Roll (2024, 2025)

At Northwest Florida
NJCAA D1 Player of the Year (2023)
NJCAA Tournament MVP (2023)

High School
OHSBCA Div. 3 Player of the Year (2020)

Bio Information

Career Summary

• Helped Gamecocks become just the fifth program in NCAA history to go undefeated and win a National Championship with a program-record 38 wins and ran SEC win streak to league-record 47 games, which is 10th-best conference win streak in NCAA history
• Part of teams that played in national championship games in three straight years, including leading Northwest Florida State to the 2023 NJCAA National Championship
• Won SEC regular-season and tournament titles both of her seasons at South Carolina

Graduate Year (2024-25)

• Played in 15 games, including four against ranked opponents and seven SEC games, as part of team’s SEC regular-season and tournament titles and a spot in the national championship game
• Tallied a new NCAA Tournament career-high six points against Tennessee Tech (Mar. 21) in addition to a block and a board
• Posted a new SEC career-high five points against Florida (Feb. 13) converting a three-point play in the fourth quarter to extend South Carolina’s lead to over 30
• Returned to play against Texas A&M (Jan. 9) after missing games due to injury to score all four of her SEC career-high tying points in under a minute against the Aggies
• Tied her Gamecock-career high with three offensive rebounds against East Carolina (Nov. 17)
• Capped the first quarter against #9/8 NC State (Nov. 10) with a putback that gave the Gamecocks a 3-point lead after the first 10 minutes

Senior Year (2023-24)

• Helped Gamecocks become just the fifth program in NCAA history to go undefeated and win a National Championship with a program-record 38 wins and ran SEC win streak to league-record 47 games, which is 10th-best conference win streak in NCAA history
• Part of SEC regular-season and tournament championship efforts, averaging 2.0 points and 1.3 rebounds on 7.5 minutes per game across her 31 games played
• Added four of her five points against Presbyterian (Mar. 22) in the final four minutes of the game as part of a12-2 run to close out the fourth quarter
• Dished out an assist and grabbed two boards in three minutes on the court in the SEC Tournament title game against #8/5 LSU (Mar. 10)
• Had a team and career-high three blocks against Alabama (Feb. 22) in a new SEC-high 17 minutes on the floor
• Played in a new SEC career-high 12 minutes against Missouri (Feb. 8), grabbing four points to tie her SEC career high and dishing out two assists
• Grabbed a point and new SEC career-high two steals against Ole Miss (Feb. 4) in just four minutes on the court
• Tied her SEC career-high four points at Auburn (Feb. 1) as part of a 19-9 fourth-quarter run … set new SEC career-high of four boards (three offensive)
• Tallied a new SEC career-high four points going a perfect 2-for-2 at Texas A&M (Jan. 21) in five minutes on the floor
• Played an SEC career-high 10 minutes against Kentucky (Jan. 15)
• Knocked down her first bucket in SEC play against Mississippi State (Jan. 7) in addition to a block in just over three minutes on the court
• Had a Gamecock career game in just 11 minutes against Presbyterian (Dec. 16) with all 12 of her points coming in the fourth quarter
• Scored double-figures for the first time as a Gamecock with 10 points against Clemson (Nov. 16) on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line
• Made her Gamecock debut with nine minutes in Paris against #10/10 Notre Dame

Prior to South Carolina

• Named NJCAA D1 Player of the Year in 2023 after averaging 16.7 points and 8.2 rebounds, scoring 20 or more points 10 times and posting 13 double-doubles in her 32 games
• Led Northwest Florida State to 2023 NJCAA National Championship in her lone season with the Raiders, earning Tournament MVP honors with 19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game over the seven-game event
• Paced NWF to its fifth-straight Panhandle Conference Championship in 2023
• Began her college career at Rutgers, playing in 32 games over her two seasons

High School

• Ranked the No. 7 post player in the Class of 2020
• Drew Player of the Year honors from Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association and District 10 Basketball Coaches Association as a senior
• Earned first-team all-state and all-district honors in her career and was a three-time first-team all-city selection
• Led Africentric Early College to back-to-back Division III Ohio State Championships (2019, 2020), including a perfect 28-0 record in 2018-19
• Part of three city championships, three regional titles and three district championships