South Carolina freshman forward Ashlyn Watkins became the first Gamecock women’s player to record a dunk in a game, and the ninth in Division I NCAA women’s history to do so during Thursday night’s 85-31 win over Clemson.
Late in the fourth quarter, Watkins — a 6-foot-3 former McDonald’s All American dunk champion — stole the ball from a Clemson player before dribbling down the floor on a breakaway and throwing it down with her right hand. The Gamecocks bench exploded in celebration.
“It’s just something that I usually do and I had the opportunity to do it in a college game,” Watkins said. “It’s amazing to me. I feel great.”
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said she did not expect the dunk.
“That surprised me,” Staley said. “She wasn’t really dribbling the ball up the floor smoothly … I thought she was just going to put it up over the rim, lay it up over the rim.
“That’s super impressive. I’ve seen her do it a million times, but never on this level … so it was cool.”
Watkins joined an exclusive club of women’s basketball dunkers that includes Georgeann Wells (West Virginia), Charlotte Smith (North Carolina), Michelle Snow (Tennessee), Sancho Lyttle (Houston), Fran Belibi (Stanford), Candace Parker (Tennessee), Sylvia Fowles (LSU) and Brittney Griner (Baylor).
Coming off the bench, Watkins finished with a career-high 14 points, including 10 in the second half.
“I was mind-blown,” senior Zia Cooke said of the dunk. “She’s so nonchalant, she didn’t even understand. I look up to stuff like that. That was my first time seeing a girl dunk in a game, live in action. It was definitely shocking for me to see.”
Watkins is trying to help South Carolina become the fourth program to win consecutive women’s basketball national championships, as the Gamecocks are coming off the program’s second title in April.
