admin 
The South Carolina women’s basketball team has put its share of players into the WNBA since head coach Dawn Staley took over the program in 2008.
After final roster cuts were made prior to the 2022 WNBA season, the Gamecocks ended up with six players on rosters. However, the final roster cuts also saw Kaela Davis and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan get waived. Te’a Cooper, who played at South Carolina from 2018-19 but finished her collegiate career at Baylor, was also waived.
The team with the most Gamecocks on the roster is the Indiana Fever. The Fever have Alaina Coates, Tiffany Mitchell and newly drafted Destanni Henderson all on the team.
Coates is technically on the roster of the Fever, but is unable to play due to having to fulfill her contract with her team in Turkey. Coates played well in her one year with the club in Turkey. She averaged 17 points per game and grabbed 12.9 rebounds. Since being drafted by the Chicago Sky in the 2017 WNBA Draft, she has played for the Sky, Minnesota Lynx, Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics and soon will play for the Indiana Fever. In her WNBA career, she has played 9.6 minutes a game and averaged 2.9 points per game and also grabbed 2.9 rebounds per game.
The second former Gamecock that is on the Fever is Tiffany Mitchell. After wrapping up her career at South Carolina in 2016, she was drafted by the Fever in the first round of the 2016 WNBA Draft. In three games so far this season with the Fever, Mitchell is averaging 5.7 points per game and pulling 1.3 rebounds per game. In her WNBA career, Mitchell has played in 180 games and has seen the court for an average of 24.6 minutes per game and has averaged 10 points per game.
The Fever selected Henderson in the second round of the 2022 WNBA Draft after Henderson led the Gamecocks to a National Championship. Henderson scored a career-high 26 points in her final game as a Gamecock against UConn as South Carolina claimed its second National Championship. In her three games so far as a WNBA player, she is playing 22.3 minutes a game and averaging 10.3 points per game. In the Fever’s loss on May 8 to the Los Angeles Sparks, Henderson found the bottom of the net for 19 points.
Out of the six former Gamecocks who are on a WNBA roster, A’ja Wilson has had the best career and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The Las Vegas Aces star has played 31.3 minutes a game this season and is averaging 15 points per game and grabbing 12.3 rebounds per game. In all three of the Aces’ games this season, Wilson has recorded a double-double. In her career, Wilson is averaging 18.8 points per game and pulling 8.3 rebounds per game.
The Dallas Wings currently have two former Gamecocks on its roster in Allisha Gray and Tyasha Harris. In the Wings only game played so far this season, Gray scored 12 points and pulled nine rebounds in 33 minutes of play. In her WNBA career, Gray has played in 147 games and is averaging 11.4 points per game and pulling 4.1 rebounds. She is also seeing the short for an average of 27.9 minutes per game.
In her young WNBA career, Harris has shown that she has what it takes to be a consistent contributor. In the Wings’ loss to Atlanta, Harris saw the court for nine minutes of play and scored two points and dished out one assist. In her three years in the WNBA, Harris has played in 54 games and is scoring 5.3 points per game and is also finding her teammates for 2.7 assists per game.
