COLUMBIA — South Carolina women’s basketball reserve forward Adhel Tac will play against Oklahoma after missing the last game with a nasal injury.
Coach Dawn Staley said Jan. 21 that Tac is “great,” and that “everybody is good to go, full roster healthy” as the No. 2 Gamecocks (19-1, 5-0 SEC) play the No. 16 Sooners (14-4, 2-3) in Norman on Jan. 22 (7:30 p.m., ESPN).
Tac missed the game on Jan. 18 against Coppin State. The program posted on social media an hour before tipoff and wrote “Always smiling, but Adhel is not playing today as she recovers from a nasal injury.”
Tac wore a mask around her eyes during the game against Texas on Jan. 15. While Staley was addressing media, Tac was in the background shooting free throws without the mask on.
Dawn Staley with full roster to face Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers
Tac’s return comes at a good time for South Carolina. Oklahoma’s 6-foot-4 center Raegan Beers is a big part of the Sooners’ offense as she’s averaging 16.7 points and 11.2 rebounds.
Oklahoma and Beers played South Carolina twice last season, scoring 23 points with eight rebounds in the regular season loss last January, then had seven points and eight rebounds in the SEC tournament loss in March.
Her first career loss to the Gamecocks was when she played for Oregon State in 2023-24 when she had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Staley has 6-6 center Madina Okot and 6-3 forward Joyce Edwards to start then has Tac, along with 6-7 forward Alicia Tournebize and 6-4 forward Maryam Dauda coming off the bench.
Tac, a 6-foot-5 forward/center, is averaging 3.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 11.8 minutes per game off the bench.
Dauda played a huge role off the bench against Beers in March. Dauda had a team-high plus-18, with five points, three steals, three rebounds, two blocks and one assist in 12 minutes. Beers finished 2-of-10 from the floor for seven points in 25 minutes.
This season Dauda is averaging 2.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 12.9 minutes. This will only be Tournebize’s third game but she’s coming off eight points in 13 minutes against Coppin State on Jan. 18.
“Five of them will play at some point, five of them will be needed,” Staley said. “(Beers) is a handful that we got to just show her different looks, and we got five different looks to throw at her.”
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
