South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks hosting pair of visitors

South Carolina is hosting Sitaya Fagan and Joyce Isi Etute, a pair of international players, for official visits this weekend.

Along with the Gamecocks, Fagan is still considering Southern Cal and Texas. She is travelling across the United States this week, making her visits. The 6-4 Australian forward started the week at Southern Cal and then visited Texas.

In July, Etute announced her top seven of Louisville, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Texas, Cal, Indiana, and UCLA. That list didn’t mean a whole lot when it came time to schedule visits. Etute has visited North Carolina, Texas, Cal, and UCLA.

After a visit to the Soda City Market, South Carolina held a block party at Dawn Staley’s house that doubled as a birthday party for Champ Staley. They had an ice cream truck, face painting, and karaoke. 

Fagan is considered the most heavily recruited Australian player ever. She held scholarship offers from 26 different NCAA programs, the most ever received by an Australian player. 

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Fagan first turned heads at the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup in Mexico. This summer, she helped lead Australia to a silver medal at the 2025 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in Brno. 

She averaged 12.3 points and 5.8 rebounds during the tournament. Dawn Staley was in Czechia to support Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell, as well as scout Fagan, who already had a Gamecock offer.

This is the first time Etute has been linked to the Gamecocks. She is a forward from Luxembourg who is of Nigerian descent. This summer, Etute moved to the United States to attend IMG Academy in Florida. She is listed at 6-0 by FIBA, but looks and plays taller, so she may have grown since that measurement.

In three junior FIBA tournaments, Etute was extremely productive. She averaged 16.3 points and 15.7 rebounds, although those were lower-level tournaments and she wasn’t facing the best competition. She also played for the Luxembourg senior national team in the 2025 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket Qualifiers and averaged 3.0 and 4.8 rebounds in four games.

Fagan and Etute are the seventh and eighth confirmed recruits to visit South Carolina. Saniyah Hall (Southern Cal), McKenna Woliczko (Iowa), Emily McDonald, Kaeli Wynn, Somto Okafor, and Kelsi Andrews have previously visited. Andrews will announce her commitment on Tuesday, October 7. 

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