Why Chloe Kitts and Ashlyn Watkins Didn’t Play in South Carolina’s Outdoor Exhibition

CHARLESTON, S.C. — South Carolina women’s basketball opened its exhibition schedule with a 91-60 win over College of Charleston, but two of the program’s most important returning forwards never stepped onto the outdoor court.

Chloe Kitts and Ashlyn Watkins watched from the sidelines Sunday as Dawn Staley’s team navigated its first game-like test of the 2026-27 season with only nine players available at tipoff.

For Staley, the priority was straightforward: use the players who were healthy, get valuable repetitions and avoid rushing anyone back before the regular season.

“We probably played some funky lineups that we wouldn’t play,” Staley said. “We don’t harp on who we don’t have. We play who we have to play and worry about getting them healthy on another day.”

Why Kitts and Watkins were unavailable

Both Kitts and Watkins are coming back from significant knee injuries.

Watkins tore her ACL in January 2025 and subsequently missed the entire 2025-26 season, stepping away from both school and basketball.

Kitts suffered an ACL tear in October 2025 and also missed significant time during the previous season.

Neither played against College of Charleston.

Staley did not provide a detailed timetable for either player but indicated that South Carolina expects to have more healthy bodies available when it returns to the court.

“I think the next time we take the floor, hopefully we’ll have a little bit more healthy bodies to see who we can be,” Staley said.

That cautious approach was especially important in an exhibition game played outdoors at Credit One Stadium as part of the inaugural LinkU Invitational.

South Carolina had to improvise

With Kitts, Watkins and several other players unavailable, South Carolina was forced to use combinations that are unlikely to resemble its regular-season rotation.

Sophomore forward Alicia Tournebize was out after suffering a finger injury in August. Freshmen Kelsi Andrews and Kaeli Wynn were also unavailable after dealing with knee injuries during their senior high school seasons.

Freshman Jerzy Robinson did not play, either.

Tournebize was seen wearing a brace on her right hand, while Robinson had a brace on her right knee.

That left Staley with a limited group — and the coach used the situation as an opportunity to evaluate players who may not normally receive extended minutes together.

“We played players that probably played a lot more in the game than they are getting reps in practice,” Staley said.

That included transfer guard Jordan Lee, freshman guard Justine Loubens and fifth-year guard Brooke Quarles-Daniels, who transferred from Michigan.

Lee was particularly impressive from outside, knocking down all four of her 3-point attempts and finishing with 15 points.

Loubens scored two points, while Quarles-Daniels added four.

Joyce Edwards leads the way

Even with an unusual rotation, South Carolina quickly established control.

Junior forward Joyce Edwards produced the biggest individual performance, finishing with 28 points and 16 rebounds as the Gamecocks pulled away for the 31-point victory.

Senior guard Tessa Johnson added 23 points, while sophomore guard Agot Makeer scored 12.

Makeer started alongside Edwards, Johnson, Lee and Adhel Tac.

The Gamecocks were also forced to adjust again when Ayla McDowell took a hit to the face early in the second quarter. She did not return, leaving South Carolina with only eight available players for the remainder of the game.

For Staley, the result mattered less than the experience.

“It was all to build chemistry and expose us to stuff we need to work on,” she said.

Staley kept the playbook simple

The exhibition also gave South Carolina an opportunity to experiment without revealing too much of its regular-season strategy.

Because the game was streamed, Staley said the Gamecocks intentionally held back some of the material they have been installing in practice.

“Obviously we shrunk our playbook and didn’t want to insert a lot of what we’ve been working on because it was streamed and we don’t want to help our first opponents prepare for our team,” Staley said.

Instead, the emphasis was on execution, discipline and getting players comfortable playing together.

“I thought they did a good job being disciplined,” Staley said. “And if we can apply discipline to any part of our game we’re going to be better because of it.”

That may have been the most important takeaway from the night.

The Gamecocks did not have their full roster. They did not have Kitts or Watkins. They lost another player during the game. And Staley deliberately kept parts of the offensive playbook under wraps.

Still, South Carolina scored 91 points.

Another exhibition is coming

South Carolina has one more exhibition game scheduled before the regular season begins.

The Gamecocks will face Benedict on Oct. 23 at Colonial Life Arena, giving Staley another opportunity to evaluate her roster and potentially see more of her injured players return to action.

The regular season then opens Nov. 2 in Paris against Maryland.

Until then, the biggest question surrounding the Gamecocks will remain the health and availability of their returning players.

For now, Staley is taking the cautious route — concentrating on the players available rather than the ones standing on the sideline.

And after an outdoor 91-60 win that tested South Carolina’s depth, the central story remains why Chloe Kitts and Ashlyn Watkins didn’t play for South Carolina basketball.