 Watkins with South Carolina in 2022 | |
| No. 2–South Carolina Gamecocks | |
|---|---|
| Position | Forward |
| League | Southeastern Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Cardinal Newman (Columbia, South Carolina) |
| College | South Carolina (2022–present) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Ashlyn Watkins is an American college basketball player for the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). [1]
Watkins attended Cardinal Newman High School in Columbia, South Carolina, where she led the basketball team to four straight SCISA class 3A state titles. She was named a McDonald's All-American and the South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022. [2] [3] Watkins won the McDonald's All-American Dunk Contest. [4]
Watkins started dunking in middle school while attending Cardinal Newman. [4]
In March 2022, Watkins won the Powerade JamFest dunk contest. [5]
On November 17, 2022, Watkins stole the ball in the closing seconds of No. 1 South Carolina's 85–31 road win against Clemson. Once in possession of the ball, Watkins dribbled the ball to the basket and slammed it, the first dunk in South Carolina women's basketball history. [6] [7] [4]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–23 | South Carolina | 32 | 0 | 10.7 | 56.3 | 33.3 | 46.9 | 3.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 4.9 |
| 2023–24 | South Carolina | 38 | 9 | 20.6 | 55.0 | 0.0 | 55.6 | 7.4 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 9.2 |
| Career | 70 | 9 | 16.0 | 55.4 | 25.0 | 52.7 | 5.4 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 7.3 | |
| Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference. [8] | |||||||||||||
A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one or both hands. It is a type of field goal that is worth two points. Such a shot was known as a "dunk shot" until the term "slam dunk" was coined by former Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn.
The McDonald's All American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the conclusion of the high-school basketball season, in an East vs. West format. As part of the annual event, boys and girls compete in a slam dunk contest and a three-point shooting competition, and compete alongside All-American Game alumni in a timed team shootout. The last of these competitions replaced separate overall timed skills competitions for boys and girls. It is rare for girls to compete in the slam dunk contest. They have, however, won it three times—in 2004 by Candace Parker, in 2019 by Fran Belibi, and most recently in 2022 by Ashlyn Watkins. The boys' game has been contested annually since 1978, and the girls game has been played each year since it was added in 2002.
The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I.
The Clemson–South Carolina rivalry is an American collegiate athletic rivalry between the Clemson University Tigers and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, the two largest universities in the state of South Carolina. Since 2015, the two compete in the Palmetto Series, which consists of more than a dozen athletic, head-to-head matchups each school year. The all-sport series has been won by South Carolina each year. Both institutions are public universities supported by the state, and their campuses are separated by only 132 miles. South Carolina and Clemson have been bitter rivals since 1896, and a heated rivalry continues to this day for a variety of reasons, including the historic tensions regarding their respective charters and the passions surrounding their athletic programs. It has often been listed as one of the best rivalries in college sports.
Cardinal Newman High School is a diocesan, Roman Catholic middle and high school outside the city limits of Columbia, South Carolina. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston.
The South Carolina Gamecocks football program represents the University of South Carolina. The Gamecocks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. The team's head coach is Shane Beamer. They play their home games at Williams–Brice Stadium.
The South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Under current head coach Dawn Staley, the Gamecocks have been one of the top programs in the country, winning the NCAA Championship in 2017, 2022, and 2024. The program also enjoyed success under head coach Nancy Wilson during the 1980s in the Metro Conference, when it won five regular season conference championships and three conference tournament championships.
Aaron Lucas is an American retired professional basketball player, who played for various clubs in Europe.
A'ja Riyadh Wilson is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson played for the South Carolina Gamecocks in college, and helped lead the Gamecocks to their first NCAA Women's Basketball Championship in 2017, and won the NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player award. In 2018, she won a record third straight SEC Player of the Year award, leading South Carolina to a record fourth straight SEC Tournament Championship, becoming the all-time leading scorer in South Carolina women's basketball history, and was a consensus first-team All-American for the third consecutive season. Wilson swept all National Player of the Year awards as the best player in Women's College basketball for 2018. In the 2018 WNBA draft, she was drafted first overall by the Aces.
Aliyah Boston is an American professional basketball power forward and center for the Indiana Fever of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was named 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year in a unanimous vote and the AP Rookie of the Year. She played college basketball at the University of South Carolina.
Francesca Belibi is an American former basketball player. She played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal of the Pac-12 Conference where she won the NCAA championship in 2021. Prior to college, she drew national attention in high school for her dunking ability. In 2020, she became the eighth woman to dunk in a women's college basketball game.
Bryce Alexander McGowens is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The 2021–22 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Gamecocks were led by 14th-year head coach Dawn Staley and played their home games at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC. They competed as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They finished the season 35–2, 15–1 in SEC play to win the regular season championship. They defeated Arkansas and Ole Miss to advance to the championship of the SEC Tournament where they lost to Kentucky. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Greensboro region. They defeated Howard, Miami, North Carolina, Creighton and Louisville to advance to the championship game. There they defeated UConn for the team's second-ever national title.
Destanni Mone Henderson is an American professional basketball player who is a free agent. She previously played for the Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, and Phoenix Mercury. Henderson played college basketball for the South Carolina Gamecocks, helping her team win the national championship and earning first-team All-Southeastern Conference honors as a senior. At Fort Myers Senior High School, she won three straight state titles, was a McDonald's All-American selection and was rated as the number one point guard in her class by ESPN. Henderson competes for the United States national team and won a gold medal at the 2021 FIBA AmeriCup.
The 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game was the final game of the 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. It determined the national champion for the 2021–22 season and was contested by the UConn Huskies and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The game was played on April 3, 2022, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the game, the Gamecocks jumped out to an 18-point lead early in the second quarter and held off UConn scoring runs to win the national championship, 64–49. South Carolina's Aliyah Boston was voted the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP). This was UConn's first loss in the women's national championship game.
Breanna Beal is an American basketball player who is a free agent. She played college basketball at South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Judea Skies "JuJu" Watkins is an American college basketball player for the USC Trojans. She graduated from Sierra Canyon School in her hometown of Los Angeles, where she was ranked as the number one recruit in her class by ESPN and earned national high school player of the year honors. Watkins led the United States to gold medals at the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup and the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship, being named most valuable player (MVP) of each tournament.
Raven Johnson is an American college basketball player for the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Joyce Edwards is an American basketball player who attends Camden High School. Committed to South Carolina, she is a five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2024 class.
Tessa Johnson is an American college basketball player for the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
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