The Gamecock women’s basketball team is coming off its undefeated national championship-winning season and is looking to add weapons ahead of its quest for back-to-back.

The team’s three new players met with the media for the first time last week and gave insight into what they can provide. Transfer Maryam Dauda, freshman Joyce Edwards and freshman Maddy McDaniel are looking to leave a mark in their first season with the program.

“I’m not coming in really to start or not even get a whole bunch of playing time,” Edwards said. “I just want to come in and learn and do whatever I can just to provide whatever I can to the team.”

Edwards and McDaniel come to South Carolina as two highly-touted recruits. Both players were ranked in the top 15 for the class of 2024, according to ESPN. Edwards was ranked third in the nation, and McDaniel was 14th.

Edwards grew up right in the Gamecocks’ backyard, attending Camden High School where she played not only basketball but soccer and volleyball as well.  Edwards led the Bulldogs to two 3A state basketball championships in the past two years and went off for 27 points, 20 rebounds and six blocks against Wren in the 2024 title game.

“I was really looking forward to coming here and getting the challenge, and that’s literally what I got,” Edwards said. “Coming to practice every day, I’m following the best team in the country, and they just won a national championship. So, I feel like I’m getting better every day in practice. I’m getting more adjusted to college, and I’m just looking forward to my progress.”

McDaniel is from Maryland’s Bishop McNamara. Last season, she helped her team win the Maryland Private School State Basketball Tournament championship game. Her decision to come to USC was motivated by many factors.

“I definitely needed a home away from home because I’m the only child,” McDaniel said. “I need to be somewhere where I feel comfortable, I know that they have my best interest and they’re going to love me. Give me tough love. That’s what I needed. So, when I came here, having a conversation with the coach, having a conversation with the rest of the coaching staff, I knew this is definitely where I needed to be.”

The two freshmen spoke about their relationship with returning veterans from last year’s national championship team and how they have helped them get acclimated to college basketball.

“Raven, she definitely, since the first workout, took me under her wing and didn’t brush me off because I’m just a little freshman,” McDaniel said. “She definitely taught me a lot.”

Edwards is already familiar with a few of her new college teammates. Being from the area, she has played both with and against a few of the other players on the team, including Ashlyn Watkins and MiLaysia Fulwiley.

“I played against them, and I played with them both. So, I kind of knew what they already did. I knew what they got in the bag,” Edwards said. “It was kind of hard in high school. But I just look forward to coming together and winning the national championship.”

Both freshmen are looking to stand out and make the most of their opportunities in practice. They know it could maybe translate to playing time down the line, and even if not, it’s always best to be prepared.

“Ashlyn and Feagin, they were telling me that every practice and every drill I have to do, I have to be competitive in,” Edwards said. “They were like, ‘That’s what Don’s looking for.”’

Dauda is an incoming transfer from Arkansas. As a redshirt sophomore last season, she averaged 10 points and six rebounds. She had her highest-scoring game of the regular season in a match against the Gamecocks where she scored 19 points. She passed that total by scoring 22 points in the Razorbacks’ first-round loss against Tulsa in the NCAA tournament.

Dauda said coming to South Carolina has made her feel like a freshman again as she tries to learn the ropes of Dawn Staley’s system. But at the same time, she feels confident and believes her experience at Arkansas set her up to fit on this team.

“I knew what I was signing up for coming in, and I just felt like I saw Coach Staley’s vision,” Dauda said. “Playing at an SEC school, I know how it is playing in an SEC. It’s going to be physical. Some nights, it’s not going to be my night. Some nights, it might be somebody else’s night and everything. I just feel like I shouldn’t let that bring me down or bring my game down.”

It is only August, and all three newcomers still have months to get familiar with the system and find their role on the team. The South Carolina women’s basketball team opens its season Nov. 4 with a game against Michigan in Las Vegas, Nev.