Staley says seniors leave big shoes to fill
With the women’s basketball season officially over, as Baylor claimed the championship Tuesday, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has had some time to reflect on a season where the Gamecocks advanced to the Sweet 16.
There’s not anything she would change.
“I think we’ve enjoyed the journey every step of the way,” Staley said. “Of course, we’ve lost some games, and I think the losses that we had this entire season, they were defining losses. They took us through some adverse moments and we came a better team from those losses. All in all, I take this season for what it was.”
Part of what made the season Staley’s best at USC was her seniors. She said they did a good job of leading the team and getting past the difficult moments instead of dwelling on them, like other teams she’s coached in the past.
The losses of forward Charenee Stephens, forward Courtney Newton, guard Markeshia Grant and guard La’Keisha Sutton will be especially challenging for Staley, as the seniors started most of the season. Staley doesn’t think she’s ever been the coach of a team that has lost so many seniors in one year.
“The cupboards are bare,” Staley said. “I think our leaders and our seniors do leave us with a big void. You can’t substitute experience. The only way you can do that is with talent. We are very talented with who we’re bring back and who we’re bringing in the fold. We’re not done recruiting, so hopefully we’ll add some bigs and that will give us a good mix of players who I think can take us to the next level.”
One of the top returners will be current junior Ieasia Walker, who averaged 7.9 points per game and led the team with assists and steals, finishing with 113 and 63, respectively. Ashley Bruner will also be returning after she came off the bench in her junior season to have 183 total rebounds.
Advancing to the Sweet 16 gave Staley more national recognition on the recruiting front, so she hopes she can add more players. But Staley knows that developing the young talent could take a while.
“Of course, we do have to exert some patience with our youngsters, but we’ve got enough seniors,” Staley said. “We’ve got some seniors who will take them under their wing and hopefully teach them some of the things they’ve learned throughout the years and hopefully end some of the hardships that the freshman will face.”
A freshman that had little adjustment was Aleighsa Welch, who Staley compared to Candice Dupree. Welch averaged 7.6 points per game and led the team in field goal percentage.
Staley hopes that the younger players like Welch picked up a hard work ethic from the seniors. She said young players have to get out of “high school mode,” and she said most of them did.
Though the focus has already shifted to the upcoming season rather than the past one, Staley still enjoys reminiscing, as the team reached most of its goals. She said she has not been offered any coaching opportunities elsewhere, and she was able to keep her staff intact as well.
“I thought this team could do just as well as we’ve done this particular year,” Staley said. “Not everybody probably believed it, but we did. We knew coming into this year the type of leadership we had, the type of experience we had, the type of new players coming into the fold — we knew it could be a breakout year for us.
“Moving forward, we feel like we could push it a little bit further. If we have the right mindsets and our leaders come to lead and our talent comes to the floor every time we take the floor, then we’ll beOK.”