Ashlyn Watkins Displaying Value To Gamecock Front Court In SEC Play
The South Carolina Gamecocks once again struggled to put their opponent away when they played the Missouri Tigers on Thursday night. Although they wound up winning 81-57, the performance probably wasn't as smooth as Dawn Staley and her staff probably would've liked. Part of the reason the Gamecocks struggled to get into a rhythm was the fact that both of their frontcourt starters, Kamilla Cardoso and Chloe Kitts, got into foul trouble early in the ball game, which forced Staley to insert Ashlyn Watkins and Sania Feagin onto the floor likely threw the offensive flow out of sync to a certain degree.
As the game wore on, however, Watkins, who played a career-high 30 minutes last night, established her presence on the floor, particularly on the defensive end, where she allowed minimal dribble penetration, exploded to the paint as a help defender on drives to the basket, and showing some touch on shots near the rim on offense. Ashlyn has essentially proven to be a similar version of former Gamecock and current WNBA forward Laeticia Amihere, a versatile defender who can switch onto guards and have little to no drop in her defensive prowess and is athletic enough to cause problems in terms of positioning on the offensive end.
Watkins working to stay in front of a Maryland player (12th Nov., 2023)
Jeff Blake | USA Today Network
Watkins' performance against the Tigers is the latest in a stretch of games where she's seen an uptick in her minutes, as she played 25 minutes in the Gamecocks' first SEC game against Florida and 27 minutes this past Sunday against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. This change in her playing time is a signal from Dawn that she likes what she's seeing from the true sophomore and, therefore, rewarding her with more opportunities to show what she can do.
Whether it's giving the team around 10 points on the offensive end or being a terrorizer on the defensive end, Ashlyn is proving to everyone that she doesn't need more time to develop and that she's ready to make a significant impact from this moment forward for South Carolina's women's basketball team.
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