South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks hosting Spanish guard

South Carolina is hosting two players on official visits this weekend, forward Kelsi Andrews and guard Somto Okafor.

South Carolina has been recruiting Andrews for years, and the top-20 forward’s visit was no surprise. However, Okafor’s visit comes as a surprise.

Okafor’s full name is Somtochukwu-Blessed, and she originally committed to Arizona last November. But when Arizona coach Adia Barnes left the Wildcats to take over at SMU, Okafor quietly reopened her recruitment. 

She visited UCLA earlier this week. Nothing is known about Okafor’s finalists or other planned visits. Because Okafor is Spanish, she is not ranked by the recruiting services.

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Okafor is a 5-9 guard from Barcelona, Spain. She is of Nigerian descent. Okafor first made a name for herself at the 2024 U16 EuroBasket tournament. She averaged 11.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.1 steals to earn a spot on the All-Star Five. It was also enough to earn a scholarship offer from Arizona. 

If the EuroBasket tournament marked Okafor’s debut, this summer’s U19 World Cup in Czechia announced her arrival as an elite prospect. 

Okafor averaged 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.3 steals, and was again named to the All-Star Five. In the bronze medal game, Okafor had 23 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and three steals to outduel Syla Swords and Canada for the  70-68 win. 

Dawn Staley was at the World Cup to support incoming freshmen Agot Makeer of Canada (who got a last-second steal but missed the potential game-winning three in that bronze medal game) and Ayla McDowell of Brazil. 

Staley was also scouting foreign players like Okafor and Australian forward Sitaya Fagan. South Carolina is expected to host Fagan in the near future

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