South-Carolina
South Carolina women's basketball: Five Things to Watch – #9 TCU
South Carolina women’s basketball faces its second Top-10 opponent in four days when it meets #9 TCU on Sunday. Find out what to watch for and how to watch the game.
1. Sania’s game
During the Duke game, someone sitting nearby wondered aloud why Sania Feagin was still starting (I won’t out the person who said it). Over the next two minutes, Feagin made a basket, blocked a shot, and assisted on a layup.
That’s why she’s still starting.
Feagin replaced Kamilla Cardoso in the lineup, but that doesn’t mean she is expected to replace her production. She isn’t expected to put up 15 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks every game. But Feagin can do a lot of different things and her guard skills give opponents a different look.
Feagin got off to a slow start this season but has settled into her new role. She’s averaging 6.7 points – the same as last season – and has hit double figures in two of the last three games. She’s also averaging 3.9 rebounds, which is a career-high, and playing the best defense of her career.
South Carolina doesn’t need Feagin to be a star. She’s more of a table-setter for the rest of the team, especially as Ashlyn Watkins and Joyce Edwards emerge.
2. Wrapping up Duke
South Carolina dominated about 75% of the game against Duke. How concerned should the Gamecocks be about the other 25%?
Not very, Dawn Staley believes. She left her second unit in the game to start the fourth quarter and Duke went on a 10-0 run. After the game, she acknowledged she should have substituted sooner, but wanted the less experienced group to try to stop the run on their own.
“I think the group that we had in probably played a little bit too long,” she said. “I just try to give them an opportunity because, the group that was in, the second group that was in, pushed the lead back up to 20, and then the lead went to 10 like that. Bad shots, bad decisions, bad defense, and then we really couldn’t keep them in that much longer.”
A day later, Staley’s opinion hadn’t changed. The 20-point lead gave South Carolina the cushion to allow players to make mistakes that they can learn from.
“They’re really trying to concentrate on those spaces in which we just aren’t locked in because teams get back in the game, and teams get into our lead,” Staley said. “Or if we had a lead, then we are digging ourselves a bigger hole. So, great learning opportunity.”
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3. Bench mob
Let’s tie those first two items together, shall we?
South Carolina’s second unit may have had some issues against Duke, but the Gamecocks general strategy remains to hold serve, get to the bench, and take control of the game.
Feagin only plays 16 minutes per game, less than Edwards (20), Kitts (19), and Watkins (19). She is one of the first players to sub out, and it’s her job to essentially set the table for Watkins and Edwards.
From the South Carolina game notes, the Gamecock bench accounts for 49.2% of the offense (39.4 ppg). The reserves have tied or out-scored their starting teammates in five games, including the last three games against ranked opponents.
It makes sense, then, that South Carolina’s best quarter is the second quarter. That’s when most teams play their reserves the most. South Carolina is outsourcing opponents by 8.3 points in the second quarter. The point differential is six points or less in the other three quarters.
4. One more for the road neutral site
South Carolina is first in the NET rankings and TCU is fourth, and games like this are why. Even though the game is in Fort Worth, where TCU is located, it is technically a neutral site game.
They are playing at Dickies Arena, which opened in 2019, instead of TCU’s on-campus Schollmaier Arena. It even has a sponsor and a name: The U.S. LBM Coast to Coast Challenge, and there is a men’s doubleheader featuring TCU vs Vanderbilt and Texas Tech vs Texas A&M earlier in the day.
There is no future game included with this one, but Dickies Arena hosts the 2026 NCAA Regionals so South Carolina very well could be back next season.
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5. Scouting the Horned Frogs
Sunday’s game is the second top-ten matchup in four days and fourth of the season for South Carolina. For TCU, it is the first top-ten matchup in program history. This is also the first game ever between the two programs.
Fortunately for the Horned Frogs, that has no effect on the game itself. Head coach Mark Campbell has used the transfer portal to assemble a veteran team of experienced players. Campbell was formerly the lead recruiter at Oregon and there is a heavy Duck influence.
Three players were formerly at Oregon, and a fourth was at Oregon State. Te-Hina Paopao planned on following Campbell to TCU until South Carolina came calling.
Sedona Prince (seventh season) and Hailey Van Lith (fifth season) lead TCU in scoring at 19.4 points. 6-7 Prince also averages 10.8 rebounds and 4.3 blocks, best in the nation. Talent has never been an issue for Prince, but she has dealt with injuries throughout her career.
“You’ve got to chop bigs down. You’ve got to make them work for every catch, every touch over a 40-minute period,” Staley said. “Our depth really has to have an impact on this particular game, so we’ll concentrate on doing that. But know that they have much more than Sedona Prince.”
Despite Prince’s rebounding numbers, TCU doesn’t rebound especially well as a team, and South Carolina might be able to take advantage.
After a disappointing season at LSU, Van Lith has returned to the form that made her an honorable mention All-American. In addition to rediscovering her scoring touch, Van Lith is averaging a career-high 6.6 assists and 5.4 rebounds.
“Played against her when she was at Louisville, played against when she was at LSU,” Staley said. “She’s more in the Louisville – she’s in that mode to where she’s calling on to do a lot of things for their basketball team, so you got to go back and look at the Louisville scout and see the types of things that we did to have an impact on her inability to get clean looks.”
In the 2022 Final Four, South Carolina had 6-1 Brea Beal guard 5-9 Van Lith and Beal’s size and strength gave her fits. There isn’t exactly a Beal-type player on this season’s roster, but there are multiple long, athletic players who could fill the role.
Van Lith still isn’t a great three-point shooter (27.8%), but as team TCU is shooting extremely well. The Horned Frogs are 15th in the country in three-point attempts per game (28.9), 11th in makes (10.3), and 46th in percentage (35.8%). Madison Conner (43.8%) and Taylor Bigby (41.9%) are the top shooters.
TCU announced on Thursday that guard Maddie Scherr will miss the rest of the season due to a back injury. Scherr, who was once part of the same recruiting class as Paopao at Oregon, has not played this season but averaged 12.5 points last season at Kentucky.
The Ws
Who: #3 South Carolina (8-1) vs #9 TCU (9-0)
When: 7:00 EST, Sunday, December 8
Where: Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, TX
Watch: ESPN2
South-Carolina
Editorial: SC Legislature left DUI and THC bills for dead; DUI restrictions can be revived
It’s astounding, in a state that won’t even allow tightly controlled medical marijuana use, that South Carolina has no restrictions on what is essentially recreational marijuana, in the form of highly intoxicating THC products that are sold at convenience stores to anyone who wants them.
It’s the result of hardline Republicans and Freedom Caucuseers on the right who insist on an outright ban even though there’s clearly not sufficient support for that and Democrats who — in a repeat of the alliances that allowed video gambling to thrive for years in our state — reject even the most modest of limits on convenience-store and other small-business sales of hemp-derived products.
This unholy coalition means that for another year — barring federal changes that might be coming — kids who can’t even legally purchase alcohol will be able to walk into convenience stores and purchase THC-infused gummies and seltzers, no questions asked.
What’s even more astounding — and outrageous — is that the stalemate over this matter has endangered a hard-fought effort to reduce South Carolina’s status as the most deadly state for DUI deaths per capita and per mile driven.
Our distinction comes largely as a result of a state law that practically begs drivers to refuse the breath test that is nearly essential for a conviction. A law that requires police to produce a practically perfect video of any tests they manage to administer. A law that forces judges to tell jurors it’s just fine for them to ignore that 0.15 percent blood-alcohol content if the driver just didn’t look all that drunk to them on the perfect video.
Sen. Tom Davis, the chief sponsor of S.52 (and coincidentally, the chief sponsor of bills to legalize medical marijuana), tells us a central effort behind his anti-driving-under-the-influence bill was to make it easier to do blood tests on intoxicated drivers, since breath tests detect only alcohol. We don’t know for sure how big a role legal and illegal cannabis plays in crashes and even deaths — some estimates go as high as 40 percent — but we are certain it’s not zero.
S.52 also would raise penalties for repeat drunken drivers and remove some of the provisions that make it easy for drunk drivers to get off on technicalities.
But the blood-test efforts — which were watered down but not eliminated in a House-Senate conference committee — weren’t the reason the Legislature failed to pass a DUI bill on June 25. The THC provisions in the DUI bill, after all, were not particularly tough. The DUI bill instead was held hostage when Senate Democrats refused to vote for bills that needed a two-thirds vote to pass because they included language that wasn’t in either the House or Senate version. S.52 was on that short list.
The weird good news is that the House voted to reject the THC bill, which Sen. Davis hopes will free up that bill’s supporters to vote for the DUI compromise. And that needs to happen when the Legislature returns to Columbia to pass a budget.
Of course even if budget negotiators do reach a deal on the budget and the Legislature returns to pass it and the DUI bill does become law, it won’t do as much to save lives as the Senate-passed version of the bill, because House leaders, many of whom make a living representing drunk drivers, oppose a DUI law that includes many of the provisions that are commonplace in nearly every other state.
As Mothers Against Drunk Drivers’ Steven Burritt tells us, while the compromise contains some significant improvements, it also creates new loopholes. “It’s frustrating,” he said, “that the original mission of only making the DUI law simpler, fairer and tougher was apparently too much to ask for some.”
But while we urge Senate negotiators to try once more to get some concessions from House negotiators, the fact is that even the inadequate current version will result in the conviction and punishment of a few more people who are driving while they’re drunk or under the influence of THC or cocaine or pain pills or another intoxicant. It will require a few more intoxicated drivers to use ride-share or ride with friends because they have an ignition-interlock system that prevents them from starting their vehicle while impaired. It might even cause a few more people to decide not to drive when they have absolutely no business driving.
And that in turn will prevent a few crashes that leave innocent victims with bills they shouldn’t have to pay and inconveniences they shouldn’t have to endure and injuries they shouldn’t have to suffer. It’ll save a few more lives — and save a few more of our neighbors and friends from the heartbreak of their loved ones’ deaths. And it will cost innocent members of our society absolutely nothing.
But only if the Legislature finally passes S.52. There is no acceptable excuse not to do so.
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LEXINGTON, S.C. (WCSC) — South Carolina recorded a significant decline in drug overdose deaths in 2024, marking the second consecutive year fatalities have decreased and the first back-to-back annual decline in more than a decade, according to newly released data from the South Carolina Department of Public Health.
State health officials reported just under 1,500 overdose deaths in 2024, a 31% decrease from 2023. The reduction represents nearly 500 lives saved compared with the previous year and is being credited to expanded access to overdose-reversal medications, increased public awareness and broader prevention efforts across the state.
“Even one is too many,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, acting director of the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said. “Almost 500 — that’s almost 500 people’s loved ones that are alive that might not have been, and so that is a big deal.”
Charleston, Greenville and Horry counties recorded the highest numbers of overdose deaths in 2024, followed by Richland and Lexington counties. Statewide, adults ages 35 to 44 were the age group most affected by fatal overdoses.
Meanwhile, Jasper, Georgetown and Spartanburg counties saw some of the largest declines in overdose deaths compared with the previous year.
Health leaders say expanded availability of naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, has played a key role in reducing fatalities. The medication can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and has become more widely available through public health agencies, community organizations and harm-reduction programs.
Amber Frazier, who works with The Courage Center and has experienced the impact of substance use disorder firsthand, said overdoses continue to affect families across South Carolina.
“At first, when you hear about it, it’s kind of like, ‘Is this real?’ and then reality hits you,” Frazier said, reflecting on the loss of loved ones to addiction.
Officials and recovery advocates say the decline also reflects increased education efforts and a growing willingness among people struggling with addiction to seek treatment.
“Really trying to continue to decrease the stigma around it, truly recognizing it is a disease,” Traxler said. “Just like we want to make treatment available for diabetics, we want to make treatment available for this.”
Marc Burrows, executive director of Challengers Inc. of South Carolina, said continued investment in harm-reduction strategies will be needed to sustain the progress.
“We need to keep pushing, keep distributing naloxone, keep focusing on harm-reduction interventions and continue to get these services to the people that need them,” Burrows said.
Despite the encouraging trend, health officials emphasized that the overdose crisis remains a serious public health challenge and that every overdose death represents a family and community affected by loss.
Frazier urged South Carolinians to remember the humanity of those struggling with addiction.
“Just remember that next time you see someone, that is someone’s mother, daughter, father, brother, sister or cousin,” she said. “That is another human being.”
The Department of Public Health continues to offer free overdose safety kits through local health departments across South Carolina, with no questions asked. Officials encourage anyone struggling with substance use disorder or concerned about a loved one to seek help and learn how to recognize and respond to an overdose.
Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTV) – The South Carolina National Guard on Friday lifted the suspensions of eight pilots who took part in a July Fourth flyover.
Eight Apache helicopter pilots who flew in the 2026 Salute from the Shore event in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, July 4, were initially suspended by the National Guard. The agency said the suspensions stemmed from events that day, adding the nonpunitive safety measure was routine and not a disciplinary action.
In a July 10 news release, the Guard said it lifted the suspensions and praised the 59th Aviation Troop Command as an “exceptional helicopter unit, renowned throughout the Army and the National Guard for its unwavering commitment to excellence and soldier safety.”
“The subject events of July 4th are no exception, as our pilots remain deeply committed to excellence and the highest standards of safety,” Maj. Lisa Allen said in the release.
–> Also read: ‘Truly sickened’: Remains of missing South Carolina girl recovered; parents face additional charge
Allen did not specify what prompted the suspensions, but said returning the pilots to flight status would help the Guard maintain peak operational readiness.
Copyright 2026 WBTV. All rights reserved.
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