Dawn Staley Talks What She Learned From Team In Kamilla Cardoso's Absence

South Carolina's women's basketball team is now back to full strength, but their head coach learned a lot about what she's got in terms of her personnel.

Last week, South Carolina's women's basketball faced off against two teams in Missouri and UConn without the focal point of the offense and the anchor of their interior defense in senior center Kamilla Cardoso. It was the first time since the 2018-19 season that Dawn Staley's squad was taking the floor without having a dominant low post player on the floor, and with the Gamecocks being so used to playing a certain way offensively, many had to wonder how would everyone else step up in Cardoso's absence.

South Carolina's head women's basketball coach believes the group proved that the team can attack their opponent in different ways.

"We handled it well," Dawn told the media yesterday. "Defensively we [looked] like a a totally different team, because we're able to play a little bit quicker. Offensively, we could play a little bit quicker and [were] more agile. It's not that Kamilla is unable to do that. It's just a different style when you're able to have as much versatility. It helps in every phase of the game."

Kamilla Cardoso battle for the ball in the second half agaisnt the Ole Miss Rebels (02-04-24) / Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

The player who seemed to thrive the most in this stretch was sophomore forward Ashlyn Watkins, who has taken on a more prominent role on both ends of the floor as the season has progressed. Although she'll likely revert back to being the first player off the bench for the Gamecocks front court, Coach Staley doesn't want her to stray away from the approach she's exuded as of late.

"I don't want to lose Ashlyn in where she is because when she goes back to being in that second wave of players, [she] could probably take a back seat. We're not going to let her do that. We need her to be who she was and continue to be who she [is] and how she's been playing," Dawn lamented. "I have to be more intentional in not losing that part of it because she can just fall back [into a different mentality], and I really don't want her to fall back because she gives us too much on both sides of the ball."

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