COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley announced that Ta’Niya Latson will join the Gamecocks as a transfer from Florida State for the 2025-26 academic year.

“Ta’Niya has established herself in the college women’s game, and her accomplishments speak for themselves,” Staley said. “But, the beauty of her game is not just her ability to score. She has another superpower in her ability to set her teammates up to score, and that’s just a dangerous combination for opposing teams. Ta’Niya is an incredible leader and more importantly a fierce competitor. We’re honored to be part of her journey.”

A 5-foot-8 guard, Latson was an honorable mention All-American all three seasons at Florida State, earning First-Team All-ACC recognition every year as well. In three seasons with the Seminoles, she posted 22.53 points per game on 44.8 percent shooting, including 32.6 percent from 3-point range, and 84.2 percent from the free throw line. In addition to her scoring, she handed out 3.88 assists, swiped 1.76 steals and grabbed 4.40 rebounds per game.

In 2024-25, Latson led the nation with 25.21 points per game and became just the third payer in ACC history to record 2,000 career points in her first three seasons and the fastest to do it at Florida State. She shot 45.3 percent from the field and was seventh in the ACC with a team-high 4.6 assists per game as well. In her 29 games, Latson scored at least 20 points 25 times, including seven 30-point outings and a career-high 40 at Virginia Tech. In addition to her first triple-double, she posted four other double-doubles.

Latson burst onto the college season in 2022-23, grabbing National Freshman of the Year honors from the WBCA, the USBWA and The Athletic after setting the ACC’s single-season freshman scoring record with 659 points and leading all freshman nationally with 21.3 points per game, which ranked 11^th overall.

Prior to college, Latson was the top-ranked shooting guard in the Class of 2022 and the 14^th overall signee in the group. The 2022 Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball and Florida Class 5A Player of the Year averaged 27.2 points, 7.0 assists, 8.0 rebounds and 5.3 steals at American Heritage en route to McDonald’s All-America honors. Prior to that, Latson teamed with current Gamecock Raven Johnson at Westlake High School in Atlanta for three state championships and the 2021 GEICO National Championship in her junior year. Latson drew All-American and Atlanta Journal Constitution Class 6A First-Team honors as a junior behind 23.7 points per game on 62 percent shooting.

Latson joins incoming freshman Ayla McDowell (Cypress, TX / Cypress Springs) as the new additions to the Gamecocks’ 2025-26 roster.

Continue to check GamecocksOnline.com and the team’s social media accounts (@GamecockWBB) for the most up-to-date information on the women’s basketball program.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Damian Felipe Jimenez has many dreams about his future — he could be a restaurant owner, a scientist or maybe something else. As he works through sixth grade, he knows education will be critical in making his dreams a reality, but he’s increasingly worried that option could soon disappear for some of his classmates.

Felipe Jimenez is one of hundreds of children who have packed the Tennessee Capitol this year to oppose legislation designed to upend the long-standing U.S. constitutional right to free public education for children, regardless of immigration status. It’s a protection established by the landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe, which struck down a Texas law that sought to deny enrollment to any student not “legally admitted” into the country.

“I am the son of immigrant parents who have shown me to respect and value everyone,” Felipe Jimenez told lawmakers earlier this year, speaking on behalf of the impact the bill would have on his peers. “Just like me and all the kids in this country, we have the right to dream and make those dreams come true. The right to an education should not be taken away from us because of our immigration status.”

A growing number of conservative leaders are pushing states to overturn Plyler v. Doe — including the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. This year, Tennessee’s Republican lawmakers appear the most willing to take up the cause by advancing legislation that directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision and would spark a legal battle that supporters hope will not only go before the high court but also allow justices to reverse the ruling.

GOP-led states have introduced a plethora of anti-immigration bills following President Donald Trump’s reelection and his subsequent moves to aggressively deport immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally. But few have followed Tennessee’s lead to focus on revoking public education from children, and none have made it out of committee.

An uphill fight but a different Supreme Court

The Republican-controlled Tennessee Senate has approved a proposal requiring proof of legal residence to enroll in public K-12 public schools and allowing schools to either turn away students who fail to provide proper documentation or charge them tuition. The House version differs by letting public schools check immigration status, rather than requiring it.

The two versions will need to be reconciled before they can head to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. If it passes, the legislation is all but certain to face a lawsuit.

The sponsors of the proposal have largely downplayed denying children the right to education, but instead have focused on the fiscal impact states are facing in educating children residing in the U.S. illegally.

“It’s been argued that undocumented illegal aliens pay sales tax and property tax,” said Republican Sen. Bo Watson, the backer of the bill in the Senate. “True. But one doesn’t know if those payments come close to offsetting the additional costs. We argue they do not.”

It’s unknown how many undocumented children live in Tennessee, and it’s unclear if the proposal would result in any savings. When Texas made similar economic arguments in the Plyler case, it was rejected by the court.

Lawmakers and other conservative supporters repeatedly point to the 5-4 vote that determined Plyler in 1982, stressing the narrow decision means there is wiggle room to overturn the precedent — particularly under the current Supreme Court that has been open to reversing legal precedent, including on the right to abortion.

“It doesn’t take one too long to figure out that there’s a strong appetite by the conservatives on the Supreme Court to overturn precedent,” said Brett Geier, a professor of educational leadership at Western Michigan University. “And where does it come from? It starts with the states.”

The first test against the Plyler decision came in 1994 in California. Voters there approved a proposition prohibiting immigrants in the country without legal authorization from receiving public health care, education or other social services. That law was overturned.

In 2011, the Plyler precedent was challenged again after Alabama lawmakers required schools to determine student immigration status. That statute was eventually blocked after a legal challenge resulted in a settlement.

“I don’t see real debates about this. I see symbolic measures that are supported by some groups of Republican legislators,” said Thomas Saenz, president of the law firm Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which successfully defended the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court in the Plyler case.

“They do trot up same old arguments from the 1970s about the burden of the costs, etc., etc.,” Saenz added. “They never balance that against the benefit of taxes being paid by these kids and their parents.”

For children, the fight turns personal

For months, as GOP lawmakers have defended the legislation, the tone of those who have shown up to fight against the bill has often turned emotional. Students have broken down in tears, distraught over their classmates being removed from their school and worries over who might be next.

As the Senate voted earlier this month, 12-year-old Silvestre Correa Del Canto stood outside in the crowded second floor of the Capitol with his mother, alarmed that the legislation could hurt children who don’t make the decisions about where they live and could impact their lives for years.

His family brought him to Nashville when he was 3 from Santiago, Chile. He now attends a public middle school that was originally a segregated school for African Americans. He connected that legacy to the Tennessee legislation.

“I feel like we’ve worked a lot to be connected again, people with people and going to school together,” Correa Del Canto, a sixth grader, said. “And I feel like that would be just going steps back, just going back in time and like losing all that we’ve worked for.”

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Associated Press writer David Lieb contributed from Jefferson City, Missouri.

The Texas House of Representatives voted to give initial approval to a $1 billion program that will see taxpayer money fund private school fees, a top priority of Gov. Greg Abbott and one he says will improve choice for parents and children.

Under the bill, if a family sends their child to an accredited private school, they will receive a voucher worth $10,000 per year, rising to $11,500 if the student has a disability.

The bill was approved by 86-63, with all present Democrats voting against, arguing that it will take vital money from public education. Just two Republicans joined them.

President Donald Trump had called Republican legislators in Texas before the vote, urging them to vote for the “forward-thinking” reform.

It comes as the Trump Administration moves to shutter the federal Department for Education in order to pass responsibility entirely back to the states.

The private school voucher program faces one final vote for approval in the state House before it moves back to the Senate, where it started. Both chambers will then reconcile certain differences before it goes to Abbott, the Texas Tribune reported.

“For the first time in Texas history, our state has passed a universal school choice bill out of both chambers in the Texas Legislature,” said Abbott, a Republican, in a statement.

“This is an extraordinary victory for the thousands of parents who have advocated for more choices when it comes to the education of their children.”

Abbott vowed to “swiftly sign this bill into law” when it hits his desk, “creating the largest day-one school choice program in the nation and putting Texas on a pathway to becoming the best state in America for educating our kids.”

Austin Democrat Rep. Gina Hinojosa said she felt “cursed by this bill,” which will be “the interest of big money prevailing over the interests of Texans,” the Austin American-Statesman reported.

After Trump called Republican legislators, Abbott shared a video of the moment on X.

“Texas, I love it, it’s a great state. It’s leading because of a lot of the things that we’ve done together. Leading in energy, leading in jobs, and now we’re going to be leading in education too,” Trump said on the call.

“I just think it’s a really forward-thinking vote…I just want to let you know that I appreciate it…This is a big vote today and I hope you’re able to vote in a positive manner.”

This is a developing story and more information will be added shortly.