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South Carolina women's basketball: Oliviyah Edwards commits to the Gamecocks

On3 imageby: Chris Wellbaum04/23/26ChrisWellbaum

South Carolina got an unplanned April gift when top-five forward Oliviyah Edwards committed to the Gamecocks on Thursday.

Edwards is ranked third in the 2026 recruiting class by ESPN and fifth in the class by Rivals/On3. She joins guard Jerzy Robinson as a top-six recruit for South Carolina in this class.

Edwards is a 6-4 forward from Tacoma, Washington, who is incredibly athletic. She can dunk easily and finished second in the McDonald’s All-American Game slam dunk contest. 

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

Along with Edwards and Robinson, South Carolina has also signed top 20 forwards Kaeli Wynn and Kelsi Andrews. ESPN ranked the class fourth in the country before the addition of Edwards.

Edwards originally committed to Tennessee in the fall. She had scheduled visits with Tennessee, South Carolina, and LSU, but was reportedly offered a signing bonus to commit to the Lady Vols on her visit and cancel her scheduled trips to Columbia and Baton Rouge.

Tennessee lost its final eight games of the season, including opening-game losses in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, and coach Kim Caldwell made drastic changes. All of the returning players transferred out, and assistant coaches Roman Tubner and Gabe Lazo departed.

Lazo briefly joined Kim Mulkey’s staff at LSU before taking the head coaching position at UCF. Tubner has not found another position yet, but the two assistants were considered the masterminds behind Tennessee’s recruiting efforts. They helped Tennessee sign the second-ranked class in 2025 and the 10th-ranked class in 2026. 

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But with Caldwell cleaning house, Edwards followed suit and requested her release on April 4. Tennessee granted the request, and Edwards reopened her recruitment.

South Carolina hosted Edwards on April 14, her first visit after reopening her recruitment. Texas transfer Jordan Lee visited at the same time. Lee committed to South Carolina two days later.

She followed with visits to Louisville on April 17 and Texas over the weekend. She also considered her home state program, Washington. 

“I chose South Carolina because it felt like home,” Edwards told ESPN. “Coach Staley, the staff, and the team showed me a level of love and belief that stood out. I know I’ll be pushed every single day, and being surrounded by that kind of energy and support means everything to me.”

Edwards played on the adidas 3ssb travel circuit and expressed a desire to play for an adidas program. Tennessee becomes an adidas school on July 1, 2026, and Louisville and Washington are adidas schools.

South Carolina, which becomes a Nike school on July 1, was able to sway Edwards despite the sneaker issues.

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