Joyce Edwards has not even suited up for the South Carolina Gamecocks nevertheless, but she by now is familiar with what she wishes to realize at the upcoming level. The Camden (SC) Superior College star—and the No. 2-ranked player in the course of 2024—is a adaptable, 6-2 ahead who can knock down photographs, complete at the rim, block pictures on the defensive end and put up massive time figures. In the state championship game, she had a monster double-double of 27 factors and 20 rebounds, as nicely as 6 blocks, to support lead the Bulldogs to their 2nd consecutive 3-A point out title.
But for Edwards, this is just the commencing.
“When I go to South Carolina, my most important intention is to just get on the floor, be a defensive player—because you simply cannot get on the ground devoid of defense—and then sculpting my offense to be what the group requirements,” she says. “I’m not coming in seeking to be, like, the star player and none of that. I’m just striving to appear in and do what the staff requirements and healthy into my position.”
She’s established to join a method which is synonymous with successful. By the time we go to push, South Carolina has just posted back again-to-again undefeated frequent seasons, gained its next SEC Tournament championship in a row, and is gearing up for March Madness as the No. 1 seed. It’s that prestige—as perfectly as the legacy of Dawn Staley, now in her 16th period given that using in excess of the program in ’08—that led Edwards to commit to the Gamecocks in the initially area. Following narrowing down her top 3 faculties to SC, LSU and Clemson, Edwards was considering signing later in the signing time period, and it was Dawn who she felt actually revered her final decision.
“The way Dawn responded was wholly unique from every person else. She was like, Okay, why do you feel this way? I truly feel like it was really just the coaching. What Dawn reported just strike me a little bit diverse than each individual other mentor.”
More than the many years, Dawn has molded long term WNBA legends, from the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Yr Aliyah Boston to A’ja Wilson, a two-time WNBA champion and the 2023 Finals MVP, whom Edwards experienced a probability to fulfill when South Carolina conquer Maryland this past November. Wilson even gave her some tips.
“[She] was speaking about how when she came into South Carolina, and they experienced her setting up,” Edwards recalls of their dialogue, “and she arrived out the next activity and did whichever she had to do. I really feel like her transition from staying more of a job player at SC to her possessing to be that more dominant player in the paint and get them to the national championship. Just the entire system and her mentality during and the development she experienced by way of that, which is 1 of the biggest issues that I took absent from it.”
![](https://trtown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1712574892_494_No-2-Ranked-Senior-Joyce-Edwards-Talks-All-Around-Game-Dawn.jpg)
![](https://trtown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1712574893_349_No-2-Ranked-Senior-Joyce-Edwards-Talks-All-Around-Game-Dawn.jpg)
Edwards sees similarities in their video games, as well, and suggests her dad frequently compares her to Wilson. “Obviously, she’s still left-handed, but she has the middy in the bag. She can travel, she can facial area up, she posts up. All those people matters that she does—obviously, I’m not accomplishing it [at] as superior a stage as her—but I’m carrying out a whole lot of identical things at my age.”
As she wraps up her senior yr at Camden—Edwards also plays soccer, which she suggests has helped with her conditioning and footwork on the court—she’s by now seeking ahead to the chances that await just 40 minutes absent in Columbia.
![](https://trtown.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1712574894_777_No-2-Ranked-Senior-Joyce-Edwards-Talks-All-Around-Game-Dawn.jpg)
“I experience like for some gamers, it could undoubtedly be intimidating,” she claims. “But then I just keep in mind that I enjoy my greatest when I’m heading against and playing with excellent players in observe and stuff like that. I truly feel like at South Carolina, with the competitiveness I’ll be playing from in follow, like, these are WNBA legends. These people today are about to go to the League and do terrific matters. Likely up in opposition to them in exercise will just make me better, and hopefully when I demonstrate up in a sport, I imagine I’ll be really organized.”
Deyscha Smith is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Abide by her on Instagram and X, @deyschasmith.
Portraits by Kai McNeil. Adhere to him on Instagram, @thekaimac.
The put up No. 2 Rated Senior Joyce Edwards Talks All-All-around Sport, Dawn Staley and Her Foreseeable future at South Carolina appeared initial on SLAM.