Destanni Henderson

Awards

At South Carolina
Second-Team All-America (2022 USBWA)
Honorable Mention All-America (2022 AP)
First-Team All-SEC (2022)
WBCA All-Region (2022)
NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team (2022)
NCAA Greensboro Region All-Tournament Team (2022)
2x SEC All-Tournament Team (2020, 2021)
4x SEC Academic Honor Roll (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
WNBA Draft Second Round (2022 Indiana Fever)

High School
McDonald’s All-America (2018)
Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball (2018)
Florida Dairy Farmers Class 7A Player of the Year (2017, 2018)

International (USA Basketball)
2021 FIBA AmeriCup, gold medal
2016 FIBA U17 World Cup, bronze medal
2015 U16 National Team Trials

In the Record Book

Career
3rd – Assist-to-turnover ratio in a career (1.61, 2019-22)
4th – 3-Point field goal percentage in a career (.379 (157-414), 2019-22)
8th – 3-Point field goals made in a career (157, 2019-22)
9th – Assists in a career (423, 2019-22)
10th – 3-Point field goal attempts in a career (414, 2019-22)
3rd – Assists in career SEC games (224, 2019-22)
2nd – Assist-to-turnover ratio in career SEC games (18.5, 2019-22)
Most 3-point field goals made in career NCAA Tournament games (21, 2019-22)
Most 3-point field goal attempts in career NCAA Tournament games (62, 2019-22)

Season
3rd – Minutes played in a season of SEC gamess (551 in 2020-21)
Most field goal attempts in a single NCAA Tournament (79 in 2022)
Most 3-point field goals made in a single NCAA Tournament (14 in 2022)
Most 3-point field goal attempts in career NCAA Tournament games (37 in 2022)
Most assists in a single NCAA Tournament (22 in 2021)
Most field goal attempts in a single SEC Tournament (44 in 2021)

Bio Information

Career Notes

• Was the prime example of trusting the process, working her way up from the bench to the starting point guard spot in her final two seasons
• Finished career among most efficient point guards in program history, ranking third in career assist-to-turnover ratio (1.61) and ninth in career assists (423)
• Amassed two SEC regular-season titles, two SEC Tournament Championships and NCAA finishes in the Sweet 16, Final Four and National Championship in her four years
• Became the ninth player in program history to reach 1,000 points and 400 assists in her career
• Picked 20th overall in the 2022 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever

Senior Year (2021-22)

• Part of first team in program history to be ranked No 1 in both the AP and the USA Today Coaches’ Polls every week of the season and program’s second National Championship
• Grabbed first All-America and All-SEC recognition of her career after finishing second on the team in scoring and leading in assists and steals
• Ranked fifth in the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.85), eighth in assists per game (3.91) and 12th in 3s made
• Posted 19 double-figure scoring games and handed out five or more assists 14 times
• Named to NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team after turning in 18.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game over two games in Minneapolis; was also on the NCAA Greensboro Region All-Tournament Team
• Became first player since at least 2000 to score a career high in a national championship game with 26 points against #5/6 UConn (Apr. 3), including eight points of an 11-2 run that turned an seven-point lead into a 16 point advantage with just over four minutes to play
• Used a big second quarter to post a career day at Ole Miss (Feb. 27) scoring 10 of the team’s 21 points in the quarter en route to matching a career high for points (23) and a season high for assists (8)
• Spent her Senior Day stuffing the box score, scoring 11 points with five assists and seven rebounds playing 39 minutes against #12/8 Tennessee (Feb. 20)
• Sparked a 25-4 run in the first quarter at #17/14 Georgia (Feb. 13) with a pair of 3s; ended the game with 15 points
• Connected on back-to-back 3-pointers early in the first quarter at Arkansas (Jan. 16) to reach 1,000 career points; finished with a season-high 19 points, hitting four 3s in the game
• Quieted the #13/16 LSU (Jan. 6) home crowd in the fourth quarter, hitting two 3-pointers in the final period to extend Carolina’s leads to 52-44 then 59-52 and finished with 16 points for the game
• Pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds vs. Mississippi State (Jan. 2) and was just two assists shy of a double-double
• Returned from injury and was electric vs. #2/2 Stanford (Dec. 21); was vital in the team’s second-half rally with 13 points, five assists and five steals in the final two quarters – named USBWA National and SEC Player of the Week
• Picked off #2/2 UConn four times and scored 11 points in the second half of the Battle 4 Atlantis title game (Nov. 22), finishing with a career-high six steals to go with six assists and 15 points
• Hit a pair of 3s and passed out three assists in the first quarter vs. Buffalo (Nov. 20), finishing the game with 15 points and a season-high eight assists
• Turned around a foul-plagued first half at #5/4 NC State (Nov. 9) with a 10-point, four-assist second half that included 3-of-4 free throw shooting in the final minutes to stymie a Wolfpack comeback

Junior Year (2020-21)

• Led the SEC and ranked 36th in the nation with 5.1 assists per game … led SEC in league play as well (5.6)
• Scored nine of her 18 points against #2/2 Stanford (Apr. 2) in the final 2:26 as the Gamecocks pushed the Cardinal to the final shot of the NCAA semifinal game
• Dished out five of her game-high seven assists in the first half of the NCAA Elite Eight game against Texas (Mar. 30), and picked it up offensively in the third, scoring seven of her 12 points in the third quarter
• Team’s second-leading scorer in the SEC Tournament (16.3 ppg) and rebounder (6.0 rpg) and shot 46.7 percent from 3-point range (7-of-15) to earn All-Tournament honors for the second-straight season
• Played all 40 minutes of the SEC Championship game against #16/21 Georgia (Mar. 7), scoring 12 of her 18 points in the second half and tying her career high with nine rebounds.
• Notched the first double-double of her career with a 14-point 10-assist performance against #15/16 Arkansas (Jan. 18), dropping four dimes in the third quarter as the Gamecocks pulled away
• Took over in the second quarter at Alabama (Jan. 4), scoring the team’s final six points of the half and hit a big 3 in the third quarter after Tide closed to within nine … finished with a new career high in conference play with 20 points along with eight rebounds and five assists
• Scored a career-high 23 points against #21/20 Gonzaga (Nov. 29), all in the second half, answering the bell every time the Zags tied or took a lead in the fourth quarter and hit four the team’s six free throw attempts in the final minute to seal the victory and lock up Women’s Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic MVP honors for herself 

Sophomore Year (2019-20)

• Part of first team in program history to end the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, claiming that spot in both the AP and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll
• In SEC games, tied for 15th in league with 3.1 assists per game, ranked sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0)
• Named to the SEC All-Tournament team after contributing 13.0 points and 4.7 assists per game to the Gamecocks’ championship run
• Poured in a career-best 21 points in the SEC Tournament semifinal against #25/- Arkansas (Mar. 7), 11 points in the second quarter behind three 3s in the period

Freshman Year (2018-19)

• Earned spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team after posting 7.5 points on 44.6 percent shooting, including 42.1 percent from 3-point range, in league play
• Averaged the most minutes among Carolina freshmen at 15.6, including 17.2 per SEC game
• Drew the start nine times in her 31 games, including all three games of the NCAA Tournament and three SEC regular-season games
• Made NCAA Tournament debut against Belmont (Mar. 22), starting and playing 25 minutes of stifling defense
• Made her mark on the SEC with a strong five-game stretch to open February, posting 15.0 points and 3.6 assists per game and shooting 59.5 percent, including 59.1 (13-of-22) percent from 3-point range, during the stretch
• Debuted with a bang, hitting four 3s for 13 points at Alabama State (Nov. 11)

High School

• Rated the No. 1 point guard and No. 9 overall recruit in the Class of 2018 by espnW
• Posted 15.2 ppg, 6.1 apg, 3.3 spg as senior en route to McDonald’s All-America and Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball honors
• Helped Fort Myers to three state championships (2016, 2017, 2018) while amassing 1,649 career points
• Earned Florida Dairy Farmers Class 7A Player of the Year honors in her junior and senior seasons
• Helped U.S. to a bronze medal in the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship, averaging 7.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and a team-high 5.0 assists, prior to her junior year

Personal

• Daughter of Joyel James and Derrick Henderson; has two younger sisters, Ja’Ziah and Jada Strong, and a younger brother, Jayden Strong
• Majoring in criminology and criminal justice