Hall of Famer Dawn Staley breaks her silence on dunking in women's basketball: “I don't think it’s anything new”

The South Carolina Gamecocks, under the stewardship of Hall of Famer coach Dawn Staley, are the undisputed No. 1 team in the country, unbeaten and effortlessly rolling over opponents.

Gamecocks sophomore Ashlyn Watkins made history against Kentucky and became the first female college basketball player to dunk at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

She was also the first South Carolina women's basketball player to register a slam dunk against the Clemson Tigers during her freshman season.

The last women to dunk in the SEC were Tennessee's Candace Parker and LSU's Sylvia Fowles 15 years ago, accounting for the renewed interest generated by Watkins.

She is the eighth woman ever to record a dunk in an NCAA Division I game and only the sixth to do it twice, according to the NCAA.

Speaking after the game, she revealed her thought process leading up to the dunk.

“When I’m in the game, I don’t be like, ‘Oh, I’m about to go and try to dunk it,’” Watkins said. “I just do it. I got the steal, and I was like, ‘Why not try it.?’”

Tennessee's Michelle Snow holds the record for most dunks in the SEC with three, and Watkin's next one will tie the record.

Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley was full of praise for Watkins during her postgame news conference.

“Yes, the fans get really excited about it. But we see her do it in practice, we see her do it in the game,” Staley said. “I think it’s cool in it being normal for us. We dunk in our game. I don't think it's anything new. It's a part of our game.”

Staley scouted Watkins at the Cardinal Newman High School and was present when she won the McDonald’s All-American dunk contest, so she is intimately familiar with her player's penchant for dunking.

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Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks meet the Veep

Before their 98-36 demolition job of the Kentucky Wildcats, Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks got an illustrious visitor at the Colonial Life Arena on Martin Luther King Day, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Speaking about the encounter afterward, Dawn Staley was effusive in her praise of the Vice President.

“I got a little emotional because I know what she represents for women, for Black women, for being the first,” Staley said. “When you’re the first, you get it all – you get the good, the bad, the ugly. You have to embrace it.”

If the Gamecocks continue their unbeaten trajectory, the White House and President Joe Biden will be the next illustrious hosts they encounter.