South Carolina WBB showing interest in ‘generational’ recruit from Texas
After winning a national championship, coach Dawn Staley and the No. 1 South Carolina women’s basketball team are hard at work on the recruiting trail.
The latest player to receive a Gamecocks scholarship offer is a five-star recruit from the Dallas area who’s already been dubbed a “generational talent” by her local newspaper.
Rising junior guard Jacy Abii announced last week on X (formerly Twitter) that she’d received a scholarship offer from South Carolina after a “great conversation” with Staley, who led the team to a perfect 38-0 season and national title win earlier this month.
“Thank you for believing in me!” Abii wrote in her post.
Abii is a five-star recruit who ranks as the No. 1 player in the state of Texas and No. 5 overall recruit for the Class of 2026, according to espnW.
After a great conversation with @dawnstaley I have been blessed with an opportunity to play for @GamecockWBB!
Thank you for believing in me! @IFNGUAA @therealdrelewis #agtG pic.twitter.com/MDW9nFPis0— Jacy Abii (@JacyAbii) April 26, 2024
The guard averaged 20.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game as a sophomore while leading Frisco’s Liberty High School to a second-straight state championship in Texas’ second largest classification (5A).
Abii, a 6-foot-2 standout who also has U.S. national team experience, had 30 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in Liberty’s state championship win on March 2. According to the Dallas Morning News, which named Abii its area player of the year, her 30 points were the most by a player in a Texas 5A girls basketball state championship game in 22 years.
Per the DMN, Abii has over 40 scholarship offers as she heads into her junior year. A day before announcing her South Carolina offer on March 25, Abii said on X that she’d also been offered a scholarship by UConn and coach Geno Auriemma, who made the Final Four this year.
Abii will be transferring to Legion Prep Academy in Dallas for her junior season and joins a list of decorated high school players across various recruiting classes who have USC offers.
USC WBB recruiting news
South Carolina and Staley signed one of the country’s top classes for 2024, led by five-star forward and local star Joyce Edwards of Camden High School. Edwards and five-star point guard Madisen McDaniel will enroll later this summer, while a third member of the class, Adhel Tac, enrolled early at USC this January to rehab a season-ending injury.
The Gamecocks also made a late push for No. 1 overall recruit Sarah Strong, a talented forward from North Carolina, but she eliminated them from consideration before committing to UConn over UNC and Duke.
The 2025 (rising senior) and 2026 recruiting classes are next up. South Carolina is in the mix for a number of top 10 2025 recruits, including recently offered Iowa guard Divine Bourrage, but has no verbal commitments yet for its next class.
That’s no issue, though: The Gamecocks and Staley have historically built relationships and established themselves as finalists throughout the year before getting commitments from a few top recruits every fall leading into or during the regular signing period each November.
Abii is one of the top-ranked players to receive a South Carolina in the Class of 2026 (rising juniors). USC and Staley have extended about 10 to 12 scholarship offers to players in that class, according to GamecockCentral and WBB Blog.
Outside of Abii, South Carolina is already in good standing with McKenna Woliczko, the No. 6 rising junior recruit in the country per espnW. Woliczko, a five-star forward from California, visited Columbia last summer and shouted out the Gamecocks on social media after their national championship win over Iowa.
