South Carolina’s three freshmen made their NCAA Tournament debuts on Saturday, and each believes she laid the groundwork to help the Gamecocks make a

Alicia Tournebize and Agot Makeer (Photo by Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

GamecockCentral Womens Basketball

GamecockCentral

South Carolina women's basketball: The Gamecock freshmen made strong NCAA Tournament debuts

With just five games left in the regular season, how have South Carolina’s three freshmen performed in their first year?  Agot Makeer  18 games (5

Alicia Tournebize (Photo by Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

South Carolina women's basketball: How the Gamecock freshmen stack up

Four months ago, freshmen Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell weren’t expected to be major contributors this season. But three games in, they have found

Agot Makeer (Photo by Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

South Carolina women's basketball: The quick impacts of Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell has been a group effort

Freshmen Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell are off to impressive starts to the season, and both credit their international experience for smoothing the

Ayla McDowell (Photo by Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

South Carolina women's basketball: Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell say FIBA experience prepared them for college

South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley signed two players in the Gamecocks' class of 2025. Five-star wings Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell

south carolina womens basketball signee agot makeer

Pair of South Carolina wings make On3's list of SEC's top freshmen

player headshot

Texas

Women's Basketball

Ayla McDowell is so focused on being great that she keeps a list of goals she hopes to accomplish in her basketball career. The list is an old crumpled up paper at this point, but with every success she achieves, she still opens it up and marks something off the list. “Having a list of goals for me is very important because I like achieving them,” McDowell told the Houston Chronicle. “I love going back and highlighting them and then in the future, when I get older, looking back at all the goals that I accomplished. I just know it's going to make me really happy.” Through her junior year of high school, she's checked a lot of boxes. As a junior she was a third-team All-American who averaged 19.6 points and 9.2 rebounds as her team went 30-3 and reached the 6A regional semifinals. “Ayla’s a special kid and everyone who meets her will know that she just has a presence about herself that's fun to be around,” Cypress Springs coach Taneisha Rogers said. “She wakes me up at five o'clock in the morning, ‘Coach can I get in the gym.’ She's just a gym rat. A lot of people don't know that about her. She's the first person in the gym, three times a week, all year long, and she's also the last one to leave.”

team image

Cy Springs

Ayla McDowell

Organization Logo

South Carolina Gamecocks

Small Forward

South Carolina

Talia Goodman

Talia-HS-white-300x300

Georgia Tech

Mississippi State

Texas A&M

Houston

Recruiting Board

Rivals

Football

Basketball

Softball

Baseball

News Feed

Database

Team Rankings

Player Rankings

Industry Comparison

Commitments

Recruiting Prediction Machine

Football Recruiting

Basketball Recruiting

High School News

Schools

Rankings

Scores

High School

Transfer Portal News

NCAA Transfer Portal

Transfer Portal Rankings

Transfer Portal Team Rankings

Transfer Portal

NIL News

NIL Valuation

NIL Deals

Recruits

About

On3 App

Advertise

Press

Contact

Alabama

Arizona State

Arizona

Arkansas

Auburn

Baylor

Boston College

California

Test

Clemson

Colorado

Duke

Florida

Florida State

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Kentucky

Lettermen Row

Lettermen Lounge

Louisville

Maryland

Miami

Michigan State

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

NC State

Nebraska

North Carolina

Northwestern

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Ole Miss

The Main Board

Oregon

Oregon State

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Purdue

Rutgers

Stanford

Syracuse

Tennessee

Texas Tech

UCLA

Utah

Vanderbilt

Virginia

Virginia Tech

Wake Forest

Washington

Washington State

West Virginia

Wisconsin

BamaOnLine

BOL Round Table

Inside Texas

IT Members Only

DawgsHQ

Dawg Walk

Scoop Duck

Recruiting & Sports

AuburnSports

The Corner

WeAreSC

GarryP's Trojan Huddle

The Wolverine

The Fort

The Lions Den

The Wolfpacker

The Wolves’ Den

GatorsOnline

Swamp Talk

Alabama A&M

Alabama State

Albany

Alcorn State

Abilene Christian

Appalachian State

Akron

Army

Austin Peay

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Arkansas-Little Rock

Arkansas State

Air Force

Ball State

American

Wofford

Winthrop

Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Wisconsin-Green Bay

Wichita State

Western Carolina

Volleyball

Gymnastics

Men's Lacrosse

Women's Lacrosse

Men's Soccer

Women's Soccer

Women's Track

Men's Golf

Women's Golf

Men's Hockey

Women's Hockey

Men's Swimming

Women's Swimming

Wrestling

Men's Tennis

Women's Tennis

Annual

Annual Premium

All-Access

Monthly

Monthly Premium

National

Unlimited Access to This and All Articles.

Article (On3 Plus Rivals)

All access to the On3 College Sports and Rivals Recruiting Networks.

Forum (On3 Plus Rivals)

Intro(National)

Join (National)

Inside scoop, experts, and community all in one.

Special Offer: On3 | Rivals National Membership

Winback

AylaMcDowell

AylaMcDowell

Team Predictions

Insider Predictions