Nation’s best! Gamecocks signee Joyce Edwards named Gatorade National Player of Year
There aren’t too many awards or honors that Joyce Edwards hasn’t earned in her high school career. Her latest accolade is a big one.
The Camden High senior earned one of the country’s most prestigious honors, being named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
Edwards is the second South Carolina Gamecock and first girls basketball player from the state to be named Gatorade National Player of Year. Saniya Rivers won the award in 2021 but transferred to NC State.
Edwards is the fourth athlete from South Carolina to win a national Gatorade award. Others were Northwestern quarterback Justin Worley (2010), Daniel softball player Carley Hoover (2013) and Dorman volleyball player Thayer Hall (2018).
Gatorade surprised Edwards, the No. 2 ranked player in Class of 2024, with the award Wednesday. The news wasn’t officially announced until Thursday morning.
She entered at Camden’s Wellness Center with her dad Wednesday, thinking she was just getting some extra practice in for the upcoming McDonald’s All-American Game, and the NIKE Hoops Summit the following week and Jordan Brand Classic later this month.
Two-time WNBA All-Star Satou Sabally was on hand to give out the award to Edwards, who is signed to play next season for Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks.
“I was shocked,” Edwards said. “I had been coming every day to shoot. It left me speechless. I didn’t have any words.
“I am grateful. At the end of the day, I don’t necessarily play for awards. But the fact that other people see my hard work, it means a lot to me. To get this award out of all the other girls basketball players in the nation, it says something to me that all my hard work has been paying off. It is very fulfilling to me as a person.”
Edwards thanked her parents during her press conference with the media and reflected on her journey as a basketball player and how playing the sport won her attention. Soccer was her first love and she had a chance to play high level soccer growing up, but she made basketball her priority. She still plays soccer for Camden and has 26 goals in 10 games this season.
“I feel like basketball and soccer are extremely similar,” Edwards said. “You have to move off the ball, be patient on defense and obviously the conditioning and the footwork.”
Edwards was one of three finalists for the award with Montverde’s Jaloni Cambridge and Etiwanda’s Kennedy Smith announced on March 14, the day she won her second straight state honor as Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of Year.
The Camden senior could have been a teammate of Cambridge’s, as Montverde was one of the schools to recruit her to come play in high school. But she opted to stay at Camden and play her entire career with many of her friends she’s been with since the seventh grade.
“Just building a legacy where the place I was raised was important for me,” Edwards said.
Edwards helped Camden become one of the dominant programs in the state during her six years on varsity. The Bulldogs won their second straight Class 3A title this year and played in three title games during her career.
Edwards averaged 31.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.5 steals, 4 assists and 3.3 blocks this season. She finished her career second in S.C. history with 3,964 points, trailing only former York great Ivory Latta’s 4,319.
Edwards was a part of 124 victories in her six seasons and became the school’s first McDonald’s All-American selection.
“She is literally the future of basketball sitting here,” Sabally said of Edwards. “... I watched some film on her and some interviews and she is an amazing person on and off the court. Joyce is very special and I am very excited to watch her college career. She is going to go a long way.”
Edwards will play in her soccer game on Thursday before leaving for the McDonald’s All-American game on Friday. The McDonald’s game will be held in Texas on Tuesday. She has two more national all-star games in April before getting heading to USC in June.
“You are down at the bottom going into college. None of this stuff matters anymore,” Edwards said. “But the biggest thing I am looking forward to is the progress I want to have in college. Just work back from the bottom to become one of the better players at USC is my goal.”
