South Carolina Announces Ashlyn Watkins Is Out for Season With Torn ACL
During the South Carolina Gamecocks January 5 game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, standout player Ashlyn Watkins went down with a concerning knee injury a few minutes into the second quarter.
Watkins was dribbling into the paint when she went up for a contested shot and got fouled. On the way back down to the ground, Watkins landed awkwardly on her knee, which seemed to buckle. She lay on the ground her about a minute before being helped to the locker room by a member of Dawn Staley's Gamecocks staff.
Here’s a video of the Ashlyn Watkins injury during today’s South Carolina vs Miss St game, per the @RobbeeeRob YouTube account.
— Grant Young (@GrvntYoung) January 6, 2025
Hoping it’s something minor 🙏 pic.twitter.com/y0lmteRCBZ
An update came out from WACH Fox on January 7 about the extent of Watkins' injury, and the worst-case scenario has been realized.
"South Carolina women's basketball star Ashlyn Watkins will miss the remainder of the 2024-2025 season, the team announced on Tuesday," the report from WACH Sports wrote.
It later added, "According to the team, Watkins surgery will be scheduled for the coming weeks.
"Through 14 games, Watkins averaged 7.2 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, and 1.86 blocks per game."
BREAKING: Ashlyn Watkins has torn her ACL and will miss the remainder of the season
— Matt Dowell (@MattDowellTV) January 7, 2025
A huge blow for @GamecockWBB @wachfox pic.twitter.com/e76Vp5TjvZ
This is a devastating blow for Watkins, who many believe will be a top WNBA Draft pick when she becomes eligible. And while Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks squad is extremely deep and talented, losing a player of Watkins' caliber will be tough to recover from.
Perhaps the Gamecocks team will be able to rally without Watkins, as they did against Mississippi State on Sunday. But the defending NCAA champions now have a big hurdle to climb if they're going to go back-to-back.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.