Gamecock women’s basketball: And so it begins...

Fans of the Gamecocks women’s basketball team will get a chance to see their new squad in action in a preseason exhibition game against the University of North Georgia Nighthawks on Friday.

University of South Carolina Athletics/Gamecocks Online

The Gamecocks will host the University of North Georgia Nighthawks in the first game of the 2019-20 season and the first of ten exhibition games during the month of November.

Fans were able to see both the women’s and men’s basketball teams at the Gamecocks’s Tip-Off Meet and Greet onOctober 18, but that was a more publicity-oriented event. This will be the first time that we get a preview of how the No. 1-rated 2019 recruiting class in the nation will work together.

The women’s Gamecocks team has been busy over the summer. Freshman Aliyah Boston (part of that stellar recruiting class as the number 3 overall prospect) participated in Team USA’s FIBA U19 World Cup team in Bangkok, Thailand and helped lead the team to a gold medal (which was Boston’s fourth overall gold medal with Team USA) with her first double-double of the tournament in an overtime victory against Australia.

Dawn Staley, the decorated head coach of the Gamecocks women’s basketball team, coached Team USA’s women’s national squad to a gold medal win over Canada in the 2019 FIBA AmeriCup — a nice follow-up to Team USA’s 2018 FIBA Women’s World Cup win. Senior point guard Tyasha “Ty” Harris, joined Team USA for the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru and earned preseason First Team All-SEC honors. Senior guard Mikiah Herbert Harrigan got the nod for Second Team All-SEC.

Prior to their graduation from high school, Gamecock freshmen Boston, Brea Beal, Zia Cooke, and Olivia Thompson picked up USA Today All-Team honors in April. These four freshman are the reason that Staley and the Gamecocks nabbed number-one recruiting class honors, and are part of the reason that the Gamecocks are projected to make noise leading up to, and including, the 2020 SEC Tournament (but are only projected to finish second behind Texas A&M in the SEC women’s basketball coaches’ poll, while the media poll has the Gamecocks winning the SEC Tournament. Go figure.).

Tickets are still available for the exhibition game against North Georgia on Friday at the Colonial Life Arena. As always, follow Garnet and Black Attack and Gamecocks Online for the latest news on the women’s basketball team, and follow the tags #GHive, #Gamecocks, and #Fams on social media.

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