The 2024-25 women's college basketball regular season is over and the South Carolina Gamecocks are SEC champions, tied at the top of the standings with Texas.
Now, we head into the SEC tournament. The Gamecocks have a bye into the quarterfinals, with the team's first game set for Friday. On Wednesday, nine-seed Tennessee takes on 16-seed Texas A&M, with the winner advancing to face No. 8 seed Vanderbilt. The winner of that game faces the Gamecocks.
Let's take a look at some news items surrounding South Carolina women's basketball.
South Carolina ends the regular season strong against Kentucky
In order to tie Texas and force a coin flip — more on that later — the Gamecocks first had to defeat a really good Kentucky team that was coming off a huge win.
Earlier in the week, the Wildcats picked up their biggest win of the year as they utterly dominated Tennessee, winning 82-58 against a Volunteers team that finished the year 21-8, including a huge win over UConn.
It was the kind of win that really signals that a program has arrived, but unfortunately for Kentucky, it had to follow that up with a road trip to South Carolina.
Kentucky played well, scoring 66 points against a defense that allows 57.4 points per game, but the Gamecocks offense was too difficult to stop. SC shot 49.2% from the floor and had four players in double figures, led by 16 points from Tessa Johnson.
This game was a great example of the depth this team has. Eight players played 17 or more minutes, and the leading scorer came of the bench. The team survived a poor shooting night from Joyce Edwards, who was just 2-for-8, and pulled away in the fourth quarter, winning that final frame 20-13.
The Gamecocks earn the top seed on a coin flip
Sometimes, you have to leave things to chance.
South Carolina and Texas finished the season with identical conference records. The teams were 1-1 against each other. The next tiebreaker for the spot was "won-lost results of the two teams versus the highest seed and proceeding through the lowest seed, if necessary," but both teams had only lost to each other, so that didn't come into play. What was next?
A coin flip.
I still can’t get over the SEC running out of ideas at point C and being like “I DON’T KNOW MAN. COIN FLIP????” 😭😭😭 https://t.co/QxrvnFL329 pic.twitter.com/1T3gdAalVS
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) March 2, 2025
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey went on television during halftime of the Ole Miss/LSU game and he flipped a coin to determine the No. 1 seed.
South Carolina won the flip, so despite Texas being ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 and South Carolina coming in at No. 5 in this week's poll, it will be the Gamecocks who have the theoretically easiest path to the title game.
Of course, it's very likely that none of this matters. That South Carolina and Texas will both win out and meet in the final and that it would have happened regardless of who did or didn't win the coin flip. That we get a third meeting of these elite teams.
But South Carolina still has to feel good that it has some luck on its side.
MiLaysia Fulwiley headlines Gamecock award winners
On Tuesday, the SEC announced its annual postseason awards, with five different South Carolina players earning recognition from the conference.
The headliner was MiLaysia Fulwiley, who earned the SEC's Sixth-Woman of the Year award. The sophomore came off the bench for all 30 of her games this season, averaging 11.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game for South Carolina.
In addition to winning that award, Fulwiley was named to the All-SEC Second Team. She is joined on the Second Team by Te-Hina Paopao, who averaged 10.2 points per game and shot 38.2% from deep. The point guard also added 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game in her second season at South Carolina.
South Carolina placed one player on the All-SEC First Team, as freshman Joyce Edwards earned the spot. Edwards — who like Fulwiley played mainly as a reserve, starting just one game — took on a larger role after Ashlyn Watkins was injured, averaging a team-high 13.0 points per game on 55.8% shooting while pulling down 4.9 rebounds and adding 1.1 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. Edwards was also named to the All-Freshman team, but came up short in the Freshman of the Year race because Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes was undeniable.
Additionally, the Gamecocks landed two player on the All-Defensive team, with Sania Feagin and Raven Johnson earning those spots. Feagin averaged 1.6 blocks per game while Johnson added 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks.
SEC Player of the Year was Texas forward Madison Booker and Coach of the Year was also from the Longhorns, with Vic Schaefer taking the award. Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year both went to Kentucky players, with Georgia Amoore and Clara Strack, respectively, taking home those awards.