South Carolina women's basketball: With Kymora Johnson staying at Virginia, where do the Gamecocks turn?

South Carolina missed out on its top transfer target when point guard Kymora Johnson announced on Friday that she will return to Virginia for her senior season. With Johnson no longer available, where do the Gamecocks turn now?

South Carolina has only one point guard on the roster for next season – rising junior Maddy McDaniel. McDaniel has been a reliable, productive backup. She averaged 4.3 points and 2.7 assists last season and has a career 4.09 assist-to-turnover ratio.

But McDaniel has only started one game in her career and has missed four separate stints due to injury. That means South Carolina would be in a dangerous position if it can’t add another point guard before next season.

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Trying to land Johnson was a home run swing that whiffed. They might still be able to get extra bases, but now the Gamecocks are just trying to hit a single.

Who is available?

Madison St. Rose

The Princeton guard exhausted her Ivy League eligibility, but still has a year left because she reshirted in the 2024-25 season (the Ivy League does not allow graduate students to compete). St. Rose can play both guard positions and averaged 15.8 points last season. But she is shooting below 30% from three for her career.

St. Rose has reportedly already narrowed her finalists to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. Could she be the reason the next player entered the portal?

KK Bransford

Bransford entered the portal right about the time Johnson withdrew. Bransford played three seasons at Notre Dame, sitting out the 2024-25 season due to injury. She was a point guard in high school and listed as a combo guard during her recruitment. It’s been a long time since she played the point full-time, but she’s still a veteran presence 

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What are the other options?

After those two, there aren’t many options left. South Carolina could try to find a mid-major guard with experience. That would at least give South Carolina another point guard on the roster, even if she isn’t capable of playing 20 minutes per game.

The Gamecocks could also hope that a P4 point guard sees their predicament and decides to enter the transfer portal this weekend. Don’t call it tampering, call it opportunism. 

If the Gamecocks can’t find another point guard?

They’ve muddled through this scenario before. In 2021-22, backup point guard Raven Johnson tore her ACL in the second game of the season. That left Destanni Henderson as the only point guard, and forward Laeticia Amihere as the backup. The Gamecocks, you may recall, won a national championship that season. 

If South Carolina doesn’t add a point guard, that is probably a vote of confidence for McDaniel. South Carolina would also be counting on three players who are not point guards, but played point guard in high school, being able to contribute. 

Seniors Tessa Johnson and Chloe Kitts, and sophomore Agot Makeer were their team’s point guards in high school. They weren’t true point guards; they were just the best athletes and ball-handlers bringing the ball up. Johnson and Makeer ran some point last season when McDaniel was hurt, and Kitts, who entered college as a guard before growing into a forward, has a 10-assist triple-double on her resume.

It wouldn’t be ideal, but it might have to work.

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