COLUMBIA, S.C. – After seeing 12 Gamecocks enter training camp, nine South Carolina women’s basketball alumnae made opening day rosters as the WNBA tips off its 2025 season this weekend.
Head coach Dawn Staley’s program is the third-most represented as the league opens its 29th season, trailing only UConn (15) and Notre Dame (12). South Carolina’s six additions in the last five years are the most of any program, topping the four from UConn and Baylor.
Tiffany Mitchell is the longest-tenured Gamecock in the group, entering her tenth WNBA season and her first with the Las Vegas Aces, where she will rejoin with Gamecock colleague A’ja Wilson, the reigning WNBA MVP. The two played together in 2014-15, leading the Gamecocks to their first Final Four, and again in 2015-16, winning back-to-back SEC regular season and tournament championships. Mitchell was then selected ninth in the 2016 WNBA Draft and earned a position on the All-Rookie team.
Wilson’s career, which began as South Carolina’s first overall No. 1 choice in the 2018 WNBA Draft, is already among the finest in league history, as she is only the third player to be crowned MVP three times. She is also a two-time WNBA Champion, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, six-time All-Star, four-time All-WNBA pick, and the 2018 Rookie of the Year.
Guard Allisha Grey is entering her ninth WNBA season, her third with the Atlanta Dream. She was the first Gamecock to win WNBA Rookie of the Year honours in 2017, after being selected fourth overall by the Dallas Wings in that year’s draft, following the Gamecocks’ first National Championship. She is a two-time WNBA All-Star after joining the Dream in 2023.
Gray’s club will be joined this season by Gamecock rookie guard Te-Hina Paopao, who was selected 18th overall in the 2025 WNBA draft. Paopao was named to the team after leading the Gamecocks to back-to-back national championship games, including the national title at the end of the unbeaten 2023-24 season. She was the NCAA’s leading 3-point percentage shooter that season and earned All-America honours in both of her seasons with the Garnet and Black.
Guard Tyasha Harris opens her sixth WNBA season back with the Dallas Wings, which is the team that drafted her in 2020 after an All-American career at South Carolina that included the 2017 National Championship, two SEC regular-season titles and three SEC Tournament crowns. The seventh overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft, Harris was an All-Rookie selection and played three seasons for the Wings before heading to Connecticut for two seasons.
South Carolina’s second No. 1 overall draft pick Aliyah Boston opens her third season with the Indiana Fever. The forward’s unprecedented Gamecock career included unanimous National Player of the Year honors in 2022, during which she led South Carolina to its second National Championship, and first-team All-America honors all four seasons. She was the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year and has been a WNBA All-Star every season of her professional career.
Guard Zia Cooke is also poised for her third WNBA season, this time with the Seattle Storm after spending the first two with Los Angeles, who draughted her 10th in the 2023 WNBA Draft. Cooke’s stint in the Garnet and Black was highlighted by the 2022 National Championship, two more NCAA Final Four appearances, three SEC regular-season titles, and three SEC Tournament championships, as well as her individual All-America recognition.
Centre Kamilla Cardoso is back for her second season with the Chicago Sky. The team selected her as the third overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, and she was named to the All-Rookie Team.
Sania Feagin, an SEC All-Defensive Team selection who earned All-Tournament honours at both the 2025 SEC Tournament and the 2024 NCAA Regional, has joined Paopao in the Gamecocks’ WNBA rookie class, having been chosen 21st overall in this year’s draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. Feagin was a member of the Gamecocks’ 2022 and 2024 National Championship teams and has appeared in the NCAA Final Four every year of her career.
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