Dawn Staley, South Carolina land commitment from No. 3 recruit in the nation
Dawn Staley’s 2021 recruiting class for South Carolina women’s basketball continues to grow, with a major target officially announcing her commitment Saturday.
Five-star guard Saniya Rivers, out of Wilmington, North Carolina, has pledged to the Gamecocks, she announced on social media. She is the second commit to publicly announce in a week, after fellow five-star Bree Hall did so Monday.
Rivers is ranked third overall in her class by ESPN and second by Prospects Nation and ASGR Basketball. A two-time Gatorade Player of the Year for North Carolina, Rivers averaged 25 points, 11.8 rebounds, 6.4 steals and 4.3 assists per game as a junior and 24.8 points, 12.4 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 4.1 assists as a sophomore.
Standing 6-foot, Rivers brings size and length to the backcourt and is considered an explosive player with range on her shot to the 3-point line. Her defensive tenacity has drawn rave reviews, and she ranked near the top of the Nike EYBL summer league in both steals and blocks per game.
“Dynamic back court performer manufactures, drives and delivers with results; rises on jumper in mid-range game to the arc; explosive off the dribble, finishes plays in traffic; continues as an elite prospect in the class of 2021,” ESPN’s evaluation of her reads.
Back in August 2019, Rivers named her top 12 schools — besides South Carolina, she was considering powerhouses UConn, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Maryland, as well as Duke, Florida State, Indiana, North Carolina, N.C. State, North Carolina A&T and UNC-Wilmington.
Earlier this month, coach Dawn Staley tweeted about four new commitments. Hall and Rivers are the first two to publicly identify themselves. Their pledges come at a time when prospects have been unable to take visits to campuses for two months now. That recruiting dead period has been extended through at least July.
But that hasn’t slowed USC’s recruiting efforts, spearheaded by assistant coach Jolette Law.
When Staley reeled in the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2019, four five-star players announced their commitments within 17 days of each other, vaulting the Gamecocks to the top of the leaderboard.
Forward Aliyah Boston wound up being the highest-rated of the bunch at No. 3 overall in the class. She and Rivers are now tied as South Carolina’s highest-rated recruits since A’ja Wilson.
Class rankings for 2021 have yet to be released, but South Carolina is one of five teams with two commitments in ESPN’s top 30 prospects.
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Dawn Staley, South Carolina land commitment from No. 3 recruit in the nation."
