The South Carolina women’s basketball team received a devastating injury update on Tuesday. According to Alexa Philippou of ESPN, Ashlyn Watkins suffered a torn ACL and has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Watkins, 21, has played a pivotal role in South Carolina’s success. She was averaging 7.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals per outing before suffering the injury. Watkins was also shooting 51.2 percent from the field across 14 games played.
Watkins has emerged as a star in her college basketball career. She was in the middle of her third season with South Carolina before the injury occurred. Watkins will undergo surgery in hopes of returning as soon as she possibly can. However, as Philippou reported, the South Carolina women’s basketball forward will miss the remainder of this season.
Watkins’ injury is a massive blow without question. Her ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor is pivotal. Moving forward will be an immense challenge for South Carolina.
With that being said, the team features enough talent and depth to still compete despite Watkins’ injury absence. South Carolina is 14-1 overall in the 2024-25 season, and they are ranked No. 2 heading into Thursday’s game against Texas A&M.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley understands what it takes to win. She is not going to let her team give up despite the devastating injury blow. The challenge for South Carolina will be surpassing UCLA for the No. 1 spot. In fact, South Carolina’s only defeat this season came against UCLA on November 24, as they endured a 77-62 loss.
Surpassing UCLA without Ashlyn Watkins is going to be difficult without question. It will require a complete team effort moving forward. In all reality, holding onto their current spot as the No. 2 team in women’s college basketball will be a challenge as well.
Nevertheless, this is a South Carolina women’s basketball team with plenty of confidence. As mentioned, they will not give up. Dawn Staley will do everything she can to help her team play well as the season continues.
South Carolina women’s basketball will play Texas A&M on Thursday at 5 PM EST. They will then go head-to-head with No. 5 Texas on Sunday at 1 PM EST in what projects to be an exciting game.
