Why freshman forward Sahnya Jah could do ‘great things’ with South Carolina WBB

Sahnya Jah transferred to Montverde Academy to win a national championship. But on April 1, that longtime dream of hers was on life support.

Montverde had reached the GEICO High School Nationals title game for a second straight season. But Jah, a South Carolina women’s basketball signee, and the rest of the Eagles weren’t playing anything like their 25-1 record or their roster of top recruits would indicate.

Montverde was forcing shots and getting frustrated with the officials and playing “a little out of character,” then-coach Special Jennings said. That put her prep basketball powerhouse in a tough spot: trailing by 16 points in the third quarter of the biggest game of the year.

Then Jah started doing Jah things.

The rest was history.

“In that second half, she calmed down, played the way we’re supposed to and was doing the thing that she just naturally knows how to do — which is just play basketball,” Jennings, now the coach at Jacksonville University, told The State. “Once she did that, she was a nightmare.”

Jah, a 6-foot-1 forward, scored 15 of her 20 points in the second half to push Montverde past Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran, 60-54, for a second straight GEICO High School Nationals title.

And she did it the hard way, with relentless drives to the basket and defensive intensity and a game-clinching three-point play the old-fashioned way — a fierce offensive rebound and put-back off a teammate’s missed free throw to put Montverde up four points with 12 seconds left.

To Jennings, those two quarters were Jah personified — and why she can’t wait to watch her former player suit up for the Gamecocks and coach Dawn Staley this fall.

Jah, ESPNW’s No. 40 recruit for the Class of 2023, committed to South Carolina last October, signed last November and formally enrolled at the university earlier this month.

She’s one of three true freshmen and five total newcomers hoping to make their mark on a USC team that’s undergoing one of its more significant transitions in years, with all four members of its formative 2019 recruiting class — which ranked No. 1 in the country — having moved on.

Even with a number of talented returners, the departures of South Carolina standouts Aliyah Boston, Laeticia Amihere, Zia Cooke and Brea Beal (plus three more scholarship players) leave plenty of minutes and shots up for grabs come 2023-24.

Jennings said Jah — who played one season for her at Florida-based Montverde after three at Bishop McNamara (Md.) High School, with the goal of winning high school basketball’s top team championship top of mind — has the talent to contribute immediately on the wing.

“The difference with her and all of the other forwards that are coming out this year is: Sahnya Jah can make threes, Sahnya Jah can pick and pop, Sahnya Jah has guard-like handles …” Jennings said. “To me, that’s the difference. She comes with a different skill set.”

How Sahnya Jah fits at USC

Jah’s appeal, Jennings said, is in her versatility. The native of Alexandria, Virginia, guarded positions 1-5 during her single season at Montverde and split time between the small forward and power forward positions on a roster stacked with other Division I talents including Mississippi State signee Mjracle Sheppard and Illinois signee Cori Allen.

Jah’s willingness to play whatever and do whatever — plus her nonstop competitive streak — were a perfect fit at Montverde, which feels a lot like a college roster in that every player was a star player at their former school and everyone can’t take their usual 15 shots per game.

Sounds a lot like the South Carolina program she just joined, no? Jennings joked that Jah had “no choice” but to adapt to a reduced offensive role, given her choice of college, but praised the four-star recruit for how seamlessly she and her playing style meshed with her Montverde teammates.

“When you’re great, you’re able to play with great people and still be yourself within that and make other people better, too,” Jennings said. “She didn’t have a problem with giving up (shots) or adapting to playing with great players.”

Jah — first name pronounced Suh-NYE-uh, last name pronounced Ja (like Ja Morant) — was Montverde’s second-leading scorer and rebounder at a modest 10.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 2022-23.

She added 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks per game while shooting 47% from the field, 34% on 3-pointers and 71% on free throws.

“She’s not a prima donna,” Jennings said. “She’s not a kid that’s ‘Woe is me.’ She wins every down-and-back. She just competes. And at any level — it doesn’t matter what level it is — when you have that type of motor, you’re gonna see success.”

Jah was so maddeningly consistent that Jennings said she could only remember two instances of Jah being even slightly “off” across Montverde’s 27 games, all played against top competition.

Any worries of a third instance, on April 1, were quickly extinguished as the incoming South Carolina freshman took control of the GEICO High School Nationals title game and turned a 16-point deficit into a six-point win and ended her prep career on quite the high note.

“She shows up, she plays when her number’s called and she’s a great, great player,” Jennings said. “And I think she’s gonna do great things at South Carolina.”

South Carolina WBB 2023-24 newcomers

• F Sahnya Jah, 4-star 2023 recruit

• G Tessa Johnson, 4-star 2023 recruit

• G MiLaysia Fulwiley, 5-star 2023 recruit

• G Te-Hina Paopao, Oregon transfer

• F Sakima Walker, Northwest Florida State College transfer