Dawn Staley, South Carolina gain top-rated JUCO player

Center Sakima Walker, a 2023 NJCAA DI Player of the Year, announced her commitment to South Carolina in a Friday tweet.

"We are very excited about welcoming Sakima Walker to our Gamecock family," South Carolina head women's basketball coach Dawn Staley said in a Friday release. "Kima brings with her championship experience by leading her team to the National JUCO title in March. 

"She scores, rebounds and defends the rim. Gamecock Nation is going to love her 6-5 frame deepening our post crew and she'll block shots, too!"

Walker averaged 16.7 points and 8.2 rebounds in 32 games for Northwest Florida State College last season. She earned 23 points and 13 rebounds as NFSC defeated Trinity Valley Community College to win the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.

"It was back and forth," Walker said, via nwfraiders.com. "We just had to go keep going back to what we talked about in our scout and our five keys to the game we had on the board. It led us here, we played together, kept our composure."

Walker spent her first two years with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. She played in 32 games and started in two while averaging 10.8 minutes per contest during her time in Piscataway.

South Carolina will bring aboard a handful of other additions in Oregon guard Te-Hina Paopao and three highly ranked freshmen recruits. Guard Milaysia Fulwiley, a five-star recruit out of Columbia, S.C., had a 15-point first half during the McDonald's All-American Game in March.

The 6-foot-5 center will provide high-level rim protection and much-needed experience to a team that lost five players to the 2023 WNBA Draft in April. Paopao, who averaged 13.1 points and shot 42.4% from the three-point line last season, will be an ideal veteran fit in a roster featuring bright young stars in guard Raven Johnson and forward Ashlyn Watkins.