South Carolina women's basketball: Dawn Staley on Alicia Tournebize and when she could join the Gamecocks

The newest Gamecock has not arrived in Columbia yet, but afterwards, Dawn Staley talked about the addition of Alicia Tournebize.

When South Carolina announced on December 22 that Tournebize would be joining the Gamecocks, it also released a statement from Staley. That statement read:

“Alicia has an incredible skill set and basketball IQ. She has great touch around the rim, can shoot it out to the 3-point line and is a shot blocker. We’re excited that she and her family chose to bring her game to Columbia, and the FAMS are going to enjoy what she adds to our team on the court and off.”

Tournebize is a 6-7 forward from Vichy, France. She averaged 12.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in the 2025 U18 EuroBasket Tournament. In 2024, she averaged 3.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in the U17 World Cup.

Tournebize played professionally for Tango Bourges Basket before committing to South Carolina. She appeared in eight games, averaging 2.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 7.6 minutes. 

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Tournebize shot 6-17 and made her only three-point attempt. Tournebize was playing against grown women, some with WNBA experience, so for an 18-year-old to even see the court is impressive and speaks to her potential.

“Just super excited,” Staley said. “I think we got a gem of a player. She is 6-7. Athletic. I mean, she’s 18 years old. She’s definitely going to have to get in the weight to see Molly (Binetti).”

Tournebize was officially released from Tango Bourges on December 24. Likely because of the holidays, all of her paperwork has not been cleared for Tournebize to join the Gamecocks.

“We don’t know when she’s going to get here,” Staley said. “I think she has appointments, documentation that she needs in order to get here. But hopefully before school starts.”

Tournebize visited South Carolina in November. She attended the football game against Coastal Carolina and the women’s basketball game against Queens. Prior to visiting South Carolina, Tournebize visited Kentucky and attended the Wildcats’ game against Purdue.

Staley couldn’t identify Tournebize before she signed, but she teased her interest in Tournebize multiple times. 

In October, she shared a blurry picture of pink A’Ones on social media and said she was recruiting in France “near Paris but not in Paris.” Tournebize was wearing pink A’Ones in photographs from her tournament the same weekend.

On November 3, Staley was talking about next season’s Oui Play game in Paris against Maryland, and she quipped, “I hope we have a French player on our roster to take home.”

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Tournebize has Gamecock ties. Her mother, Isabelle Fijalkowski, played two seasons (1997-98) in the WNBA for the Cleveland Rockers. South Carolina associate head coach Lisa Boyer was an assistant for the Rockers for the 1998 season. 

Fijalkowskii was Cleveland’s leading scorer and rebounder in 1998, her final season. She averaged 12.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in her two WNBA seasons before returning to Europe for a successful EuroLeague career. 

Fijalkowski played college basketball at Colorado. She was inducted into the French Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011, and will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2026.

Tournebize will be the second French player in Gamecock history, although the first actually born in France. Wilka Montout, who played for South Carolina for two seasons from 2012-2014, was born in Cayenne, French Guinana. She later went to school in Nice, France, and Oklahoma before transferring to South Carolina.

South Carolina also got a commitment from guard Jerzy Robinson last week, but Robinson has not officially signed yet so Staley can’t comment on her publicly.

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