South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks will be short-handed against Penn State

South Carolina will be without two players when it hosts Penn State on Sunday afternoon.

All 10 players were in uniform and warming up before the game, but just over 30 minutes before tipoff, South Carolina announced that Madina Okot and Agot Makeer will not play.

On Friday, Dawn Staley suggested that the Gamecocks would not be at full strength, but did not offer details.

“For the most part,” Staley said. “I don’t know. Every day is an adventure. But I’ll tell you this, whoever we have we’re going to play to the best of our ability.”

At the portion of practice open to the media, everyone except Okot was in attendance. Staley declined to offer any specifics regarding Okot’s absence.

Freshman Makeer missed the Louisville and NC Central games while in concussion protocol, but was at practice on Friday. Staley said Makeer is “better,” but that they are not rushing her back to full speed yet.

It turns out both players will sit out Sunday’s game against Penn State.

“With Agot you just have to be careful. We don’t want a second (concussion). We’re very, very careful about how we’re going to use her. It was good to have her in practice doing a little bit of things, but not all things.”

South Carolina will have to face Penn State’s 6-6 Gracie Merkle without its best post presence. Merkle leads the nation in field goal percentage, hitting 74.59% of her shots. She averages 22.3 points per game, 10th in the country, and 8.0 rebounds. Earlier this season, Merkle had 39 points on 19-23 shooting against Princeton.

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Also against NC Central, Tessa Johnson missed her first game of the season due to illness. Okot did not play in the second half, also due to illness, leading Staley to say after the game, “It’s going around.”

South Carolina’s roster attrition began all the way back in July when Ashlyn Watkins announced she would sit out the season. That dropped South Carolina to 11 players.

Then, a little over a month before the season began, Chloe Kitts was lost for the year with a torn ACL. The Gamecocks were down to 10 players, a tiny roster for a program that is used to going nine or 10 players deep. They could ill-afford to lose another player.

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10 Games into the season, South Carolina has had all 10 players available at the start of just four games, and finished with all 10 just three times.

It began in the preseason when Ayla McDowell missed the North Carolina game with an illness. 

Maddy McDaniel left the season-opener against Grand Canyon after banging knees. She missed the next four games with the injury and a suspension. 

Agot Makeer left the second game against Bowling Green after getting stepped on, leaving South Carolina with just eight players. She returned to play Clemson, but has missed the last two games while in concussion protocol. 

The attrition reached its most extreme point against NC Central. Makeer was still out, and then Tessa Johnson was too sick to play. Then, less than four minutes before halftime, Madina Okot left the game because she was also sick. Okot was able to return to the bench after an extended halftime break, but did not play, leaving the Gamecocks with just seven players.

After the game, Staley explained her mentality as only thinking about the players who are available. Staley tries to instill that focus in her players.

“I only see what’s in front of us. So we had eight today. I only see eight,” Staley said. “We got reduced to seven, I only see seven. We’re going to play the hand that we’re dealt to the best of our ability. We can worry about whatever, whenever. But for me, whoever’s healthy, let us know who’s healthy, and then we can take it from there.”

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!