Daybreak Staley’s Gamecocks might be missing the identical kind of depth they’ve loved within the frontcourt lately when the 2025-26 season begins.
Not solely will Ashlyn Watkins not play this season for South Carolina, however senior ahead Chloe Kitts introduced Monday morning that she would miss the whole upcoming season after tearing her ACL. The information comes a couple of week after Kitts was noticed at a South Carolina volleyball sport on crutches and with a brace on her proper knee.
“I not too long ago suffered an ACL tear and, sadly, might be out for this season,” Kitts wrote in a social media submit. “Whereas this isn’t how I hoped my senior season would go, I’m trusting God’s timing and function. I’ll proceed to steer, assist and push my workforce from the sidelines.”
In an announcement printed by South Carolina athletics, Staley added: “We hate this primary for Chloe, who has labored extremely onerous to turn into one of the best model of herself on the court docket this season. Her teammates are able to stepping up, and I do know that her aggressive fireplace and tenacity might be felt from the sidelines as she pours what she will be able to into them to make sure our workforce’s success.”
Kitts is coming off a season the place she averaged career-bests in scoring and rebounding with 10.2 factors and seven.7 rebounds per sport. The 6-foot-2 senior from Oviedo, Florida additionally posted a career-high 1.7 assists per sport final yr, the place the Gamecocks appeared within the nationwide title sport for the second straight season.
A starter for Staley for the previous two seasons, Kitts was instrumental within the Gamecocks’ postseason success. In a seven-game stretch starting with the SEC Event quarterfinals and going by means of the Elite Eight, Kitts averaged 14.2 factors, 7.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a block per sport. She was named MVP of the SEC Event and the Birmingham 2 Regional.
Kitts was on monitor to be a first-round decide within the WNBA Draft this spring. This school marketing campaign would’ve been her remaining season of eligibility and it’s unclear if she’ll search a medical redshirt to play subsequent season. She’ll have surgical procedure this week.
With Kitts and Watkins sidelined for the season, South Carolina will doubtless need to lean on sophomore Joyce Edwards on the energy ahead place. The 6-foot-3 Edwards is coming off a powerful freshman season the place she was — alongside Kitts — named as an honorable point out All-American by the AP. Edwards additionally earned a First Staff All-SEC nod and was named to the All-Event Staff on the Closing 4.
Edwards additionally spent the summer time with Staff USA, taking part in for the senior nationwide workforce on the AmeriCup and with the 3×3 squad on the FIBA Nations League.
Whereas Staley’s South Carolina groups have usually been ones that emphasize bodily play and pounding the ball inside, the power for this group of Gamecocks is perhaps in its backcourt which now options the veteran Raven Johnson, the nation’s main scorer in Ta’Niya Latson, and sharpshooting junior Tessa Johnson.
