South Carolina's Joyce Edwards wants to follow A'ja Wilson and Diana Taurasi's legacy

South Carolina freshman star Joyce Edwards led the Gamecocks to a 93-75 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday. She tallied 21 points on 47.1% shooting from the floor and added five rebounds in 29 minutes of action.

During her postgame press conference, Edwards paid tribute to basketball legends A'ja Wilson and Diana Taurasi for paving the way for modern women's basketball.

"We got women who paved the way for us, A'ja Wilson, Diana Taurasi, people like that," Edwards said. "We're just following in their footsteps and doing everything we can to live up to their legacy."

Joyce Edwards was a five-star prospect and was named the 2024 Gatorade Player of the Year when she played for Camden High School before committing to play for Dawn Staley at South Carolina.

Edwards has justified the hype by averaging 13.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists as a freshman for the reigning national champions. She is the team's leading scorer ahead of talented guard MiLaysia Fulwiley.

Dawn Staley compares Joyce Edwards to USC legend

During one of her weekly news conferences in February, Staley compared Joyce Edwards to Gamecocks legend Aaliyah Boston and broke down the qualities that made her such a special player.

“Joyce Edwards is, I’m going to put it out there, Joyce is going to be the best player in college basketball one day,” Staley said. “I say that only because of her work ethic and her intellect and her want. She’s highly motivated. She’s very Aliyah-like when it comes to what she pours into her game. So a lot of times basketball will repay you in such a way that you become the best player in the country.

“Joyce injects what we need. She has the physical presence to guard. She has the moxie to guard. She plays with huge bravado on both sides of the basketball. She believes if she’s got a smaller person on her, or a bigger person, she’s going to score."

Dawn Staley had to rebuild the South Carolina roster after the departure of key figures like Kamilla Cardoso to the WNBA, and Edwards has seamlessly fit into the new lineup alongside fellow talent MiLaysia Fulwiley. The Gamecocks have barely missed a beat, and with the win against Oklahoma on Saturday, they advanced to their sixth straight SEC Tournament championship game.

Joyce Edwards and the South Carolina Gamecocks will play against the Texas Longhorns in the SEC Tournament championship game after the latter beat the LSU Tigers 56-49 on Saturday evening to clinch their spot in the game.