Who will walk at South Carolina women’s basketball upcoming Senior Day?
South Carolina women’s basketball will honor its seniors Sunday ahead of its regular-season finale against Tennessee. But who will participate in the pregame ceremony?
There are three seniors on the Gamecocks 2023-24 roster: starters Kamilla Cardoso and Te-Hina Paopao and reserve center Sakima Walker. All three have one more year of eligibility remaining, as they are part of the final class able to use the NCAA’s COVID-19 waiver to return for a fifth season. All three of South Carolina’s seniors will walk Sunday, a USC spokesperson told The State, though their decisions to take part in the Senior Day ceremony aren’t necessarily indicative of a decision to return to the Gamecocks next year
Cardoso is one of the nation’s top players, earning spots on several national award watch lists — USBWA Player of the Year, Naismith Player of the Year, Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, the John R. Wooden Award and the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award — and several SEC weekly honors throughout the season.
ESPN’s 2024 WNBA Draft projections have Cardoso going fourth overall to the Los Angeles Sparks. Despite having missed four games due to an Olympic Qualifying Tournament with Brazil Basketball and subsequent rest, Cardoso leads USC with 14.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest.
Paopao is on many of the same watch lists as Cardoso — USBWA Player of the Year, Naismith Player of the Year, the John R. Wooden Award and the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award — and regarded as one of the most impactful transfers in women’s college basketball this season, coming to South Carolina from Oregon. She is the most accurate 3-point shooter in the nation (48.9%) and leads USC with 64 made 3s. Paopao has spoken of coach Dawn Staley’s track record of producing professional basketball players as part of what drew her to South Carolina.
“I left Oregon because I just needed a new start,” Paopao said at SEC Media Day in October. “I felt like I needed to be challenged more. And I came to South Carolina because of coach Staley and what her program brings and what she does. She brings people to the WNBA, which we witnessed last night (when former Gamecock A’ja Wilson won her second consecutive WNBA Championship with the Las Vegas Aces) with the back-to-back championships. So that was a great thing to see, and it just tells me that I came to the right place.”
Walker transferred to South Carolina from junior college school Northwest Florida State after playing two seasons at Rutgers. She has played in 23 of the Gamecocks 27 games this year, starting once against Morgan State.