South Carolina guard honors mother's cancer battle through Kay Yow Servant Leader award

South Carolina women’s basketball tips off its annual Play4Kay game on Thursday evening when the Mississippi State Bulldogs travel to Colonial Life Arena.

For one Gamecock, the game is bigger than the Kay Yow Servant Leader award patch she wears on her right shoulder. It is bigger than the yearly game that raises awareness for the fight against cancers affecting women. It is about who she plays for every day: her mother.

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Sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel is one of 65 players across all divisions of college basketball honored with the Kay Yow Servant Leader Award for the 2025-26 season. The award honors student-athletes who exemplify leadership, selflessness, and service in the fight against all cancers affecting women.

For McDaniel, the award is personal. McDaniel’s mother, Tameka, is a survivor of ovarian cancer.

“It means a lot,” Maddy McDaniel said in January of the recognition. “Just to be able to honor my mom and what she went through, it means a lot to be able to go on the floor and play for her every game.”

Maddy and her mother have been close her entire life. Throughout her childhood, Maddy never stayed over at anyone else’s home but her own until she left for South Carolina.

“In high school, our home was a safe house for all of her teammates and friends because Maddy and I have a very, almost codependent, relationship,” Tameka told GamecockCentral.

When Maddy returns home to Maryland for a four-day Christmas Break, that haven returns for her and her former high school teammates.

When she earned the honor, she immediately told her mother the news. Her mother instantly broke down into tears. Throughout her life, Maddy accompanied her mother to various cancer walks in the Washington DC area.

Tameka was first diagnosed with the disease a year and a half before Maddy was conceived. Due to complications with the radiation therapy, it was hard to tell whether or not she was pregnant. When she and her husband went in for treatment one day, they left learning that Tameka was 16 weeks pregnant with Maddy. Though doctors cautioned against it, she and her family chose to keep the baby.

“They were like, the radiation you’re doing is very intense,” Tameka said. “It’s about a 50-to-60 percent chance that [Maddy is] going to have vision problems.”

Fear of caring for a child with disabilities settled in. However, with her family in the corner, she knew everything was going to be okay.

“If God brought you to this, he’s going to bring you through it,” Tameka said her parents reminded her. “… And guess what? Had the best pregnancy. Like, she was an easy pregnancy, best kid. It was crazy.”

Unfortunately, Tameka’s cancer returned when Maddy was seven years old. This time around, Maddy was old enough to be aware of her mother’s suffering.

“She was a mess. She didn’t really understand it,” Tameka said. “… It’s hard to explain, because we didn’t even tell her. She just kind of was like, ‘Why? Why are you sick all the time?’ And we’re so close.”

At the time of her mother’s re-diagnosis, the future South Carolina guard had just gotten into AAU basketball. At her age, cancer meant death, a disease that claimed her great-grandmother’s life when her mother was 13 years old. That is why, throughout her mother’s second battle with the disease, Maddy chose to be with her every step of the way.

“She would come with me and my husband [to the hospital] and, like, sit there, holding my hand when I’m getting the IV through the thing, telling me funny stories, reading to me, doing her homework in front of me. We tried to make it as light as we could because we wanted her to know I’m still going to be here,” Tameka said.

Tameka believes her soft-spoken daughter coped with her mother’s cancer well by channeling it into the court. 13 years later, she’s cancer-free.

When it came time to pay her daughter’s support forward, Tameka and her husband, Jerry McDaniel, showed up every time. Whether it was basketball camps, AAU tournaments, games, or whatever else, Maddy’s parents divided and conquered to show up every time. Though Maddy still chases her first title with South Carolina, to her mother, she will always be her “Little Champion.”

While Thursday night’s game adds a special level of attention to it, Maddy continues to carry her mother’s battle into her battles on the basketball court every night.

Tameka’s battle goes beyond inspiration on the court for Maddy. It shows in the life lessons that carry her in everyday life. Tameka said that when Maddy was suspended for three games early in the season, she felt her sophomore season with the Gamecocks was going to be a wash. The suspension left her in a dark place at the time.

“You have to have a positive attitude. Do all the work, do everything that you need to do to get to where you want to be,” Tameka said. “Do you think I wanted to go through chemotherapy and radiation for the second time?

“I told her, guess why I did it, because my husband and I thought about it. I didn’t want to do that again. But looking at my daughter every day, I thought to myself, I have to do this for her, right? There has to be a purpose of why you do things.”

Maddy came back and overcame her suspension, the same way her mother came back and overcame cancer twice. Since returning on Nov. 23, Maddy McDaniel has played in every game, including her first career start against the Aggies on Monday night. Tameka said once she and head coach Dawn Staley spoke with Maddy on the reasons behind the patch she wears on her shoulder, it lit a fire under the sophomore.

“If I can wear this [patch] on my jersey, nobody else is on my team, I’ve got to show them why I’m wearing this,” Tameka said on her daughter’s mindset.

Tameka said now, Maddy doesn’t just do it for her. She does it for all the women who fought through cancer and the mothers who have kids in their daily lives, trying to cheer them on their journey.

“I think Maddy has incredible support. She’s growing up, she’s maturing. You could say she’s getting more playing time,” Staley said. “… It’s good to know that such a young player was listening last year. When she did sit, she was learning. Now that she’s able to get out there and play extended minutes, she’s executing.”

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