Why transfer Sakima Walker fits with Dawn Staley, South Carolina women's basketball

COLUMBIA — When Will McKinney first saw South Carolina women's basketball transfer Sakima Walker play, she was in seventh grade. He knew right away that she had the potential to be a star.

"When she was younger, you knew eventually she was going to be a Power 5 player, not necessarily because of her talent but because she was such a tall girl who really had love for the game," said McKinney, her high school coach. "She's going to be outstanding for South Carolina, not just as a basketball player but as a personality ... She'll be playing hard when she's out there and she'll be the best cheerleader when she's not."

Walker, a Columbus, Ohio native, lived up to the expectations when she got to Columbus Africentric Early College High School. She helped lead the Nubians to the OHSAA Division III state championship in 2019 and was the No. 63 prospect in the nation for the Class of 2020, committing to play at Rutgers under legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer.

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The 6-foot-5 center was a fairly consistent contributor for the Scarlet Knights averaging 10 minutes, four points and 2.5 rebounds per game over her two seasons. However, she was struggling mentally and decided to transfer to Northwest Florida State, a junior college, after Stringer announced her retirement at the end of the 2021-22 season.

"We talk about being the same person on and off the court. Being disciplined off the the court correlates to being successful on the court," Northwest Florida coach Bart Walker said. "She just bought in to everything she had to do ... Her maturity as a young woman to be able to handle the details outside of the basketball court has made her grow as a person on the basketball court."

Walker thrived in her year there, leading Northwest Florida to the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship and earning NJCAA Player of the Year honors. She averaged 16.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game shooting 49.3% from the field.

"You can't teach 6-5 and long," Bart Walker said. "She has a great feel for the game as far as basketball IQ. She has length and ability to contest shots at the rim but also guard on the perimeter. She moves laterally pretty well. She's a two-way player — she can score it and she can defend, and that's hard to find."

Walker also developed a new skill at Northwest Florida: 3-point shooting. McKinney said he never saw the center shoot threes in high school and she didn't log a single attempt at Rutgers, but last season she hit 52.6% on 19 shots beyond the arc. Aliyah Boston also attempted 19 3-pointers in 2022-23 for South Carolina, making two.

McKinney coached multiple Division I players in his 18 years at Africentric: Walker played alongside former Tennessee guard Jordan Horston, who was drafted No. 9 in the 2023 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm, and 5-star Virginia guard Alexia Smith. McKinney said Gamecocks assistant coach Jolette Law first saw Walker play while she was visiting Africentric to scout Horston.

McKinney said that experience will benefit Walker on a roster as deep as South Carolina's. The Gamecocks return just four players who averaged at least 10 minutes per game in 2022-23, but all seven of their returners were former 5-star prospects and six were McDonald's All-Americans.

"She's used to the work. She's not going to be intimidated," McKinney said. "She's going to be able to do all of the stuff that some kids might have to adjust to when they get to a school like South Carolina. Sakima is built for that, because the groundwork comes from that. I wasn't a very fluffy coach, so she's going to be used to being coached hard."

At Northwest Florida, the environment was similarly competitive. The Raiders are one of the top junior college programs and regularly produce Power 5 transfers: LSU's Last-Tear Poa played at Northwest Florida from 2020-22, and Illinois's Aicha Ndour spent the 2021-22 season there after starting her career at Rutgers alongside Walker.

"We told her, this is not easy. Your standards are way higher because you're playing for a national championship contender and a Hall of Fame coach, so you can't have those off days," Bart Walker said. "She's got a great energy, and that correlates to the player she can be now that she's found herself as a person and as a player ... She's grown up, and her basketball speaks for itself."

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Why Dawn Staley found good fit for South Carolina in Sakima Walker