South Carolina women's basketball: Updates on new scholarship offers

The second evaluation (“live”) period for women’s basketball recruiting has concluded, and South Carolina has extended three more scholarship offers.

After the first live period, South Carolina offered three players: Lola Lamplay, Sydney Savoury, and Sydney Mobley.

South Carolina offered two more players early in the week, and then extended a third after we published the first version of this story. (The usual caveat: we’re relying on recruits to announce the offers, so there could be more we don’t know about.)

Emily McDonald
2026, Guard, 6-0, Brookeville, NY
On3 Industry rank: 42
ESPN rank: 39

By girls’ basketball standards, McDonald is a late bloomer. She went from relatively unknown on the national stage to one of the stars this summer. 

McDonald plays for powerhouse Long Island Lutheran, but she spent her freshman and sophomore seasons at St. Mary’s, which doesn’t get the same kind of national attention. 

South Carolina was impressed by McDonald at the Power 24 Finals in Ohio last weekend, where she led her Team Northeast to a runner-up finish. 

McDonald has already taken visits to Baylor, Kentucky, TCU, North Carolina, Indiana, and Wake Forest. Several scouts list McDonald as a combo guard and stress her point guard abilities, but “combo guards who can play point” are almost always shooting guards in college.

Even before her summer blowup, McDonald did not appear to be close to a commitment. With her stock rising this summer and bigger offers coming in, she may wait even longer to decide.

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Aaliah Spaight
2026, Point Guard, 5-8, Las Vegas, NV
On3 Industry rank: 70
ESPN rank: 77

Spaight is an under-the-radar recruit who picked up a late offer from the Gamecocks. She has lots of Power 2 offers, but South Carolina is the first blue blood to extend an offer.

Spaight was the Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2023-24, when she averaged 17.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 4.4 steals. She averaged 19.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 4.0 steals last season, but Nationa Williams, who also has a Gamecock offer, won Player of the Year.

Spaight was the leading scorer at the Nike Nationals last weekend, averaging nearly 28 points, five assists, and four rebounds. That was enough to earn an offer.

Earlier this week, I wondered aloud why South Carolina offered a player ranked in the 70s. I think I have my answer now.

Since South Carolina’s offer, Spaight has also picked up offers from North Carolina, Arizona, and LSU. Clearly, college coaches see something in Spaight that the recruiting rankings don’t.

Eve Long
2027, Post, 6-3, Olathe, KS
ESPN rank: 9

I wrote about Long when I first saw her in April. I was there to watch her teammate Amari Byles, but Long was the player who stood out the most. Here’s what I wrote in April:

“Long jumped out with her size and versatility. At 6-3, Long has good handles and quickness and finishes well at the rim. Long averaged 12.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks. That’s nice stat-stuffing.

Despite her high recruiting ranking, Long doesn’t have a lot of offers from top programs. Look for that to change this summer.”

It definitely has. Long continues to turn heads as she continues to get better. She rose from 16th in the early spring to 11th April to ninth in the current ESPN rankings. 

Long averaged 11.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.3 steals at the U16 AmeriCup, helping Team USA win gold.

Last weekend, Long was even called for goaltending in a game Dawn Staley was watching. Staley tweeted about it, so it’s no surprise an offer came this week.

Dizzam! I’m sitting here at a game, an AAU game and this is the first time I’ve ever witnessed a goaltending call in a girls game. Unbelievable athletic play on the ball. Goaltending hhhhmmmm. Anyhoo…..sign the offender up @GamecockWBB let’s goooo 🤣🤣🤣

— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) July 19, 2025

Long has offers from all the usual suspects, and the handful that haven’t offered yet will probably offer soon. 

She plays center in high school, and that’s how she is listed by recruiting services. Long is fairly slender right now, and if she doesn’t get bigger, she will probably be a forward in college.

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