South Carolina women’s basketball: Sania Feagin’s preseason player profile

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South Carolina’s Repeat Tour begins in about a month, on November 4 in Las Vegas. Throughout the upcoming month, GamecockCentral will profile each member of the team and how she is expected to contribute this season. Our second week begins with senior forward Sania Feagin.

Sania Feagin (Senior, Forward, 6-3)
38 games (3 starts), 6.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.0 apg

Player profile
Just when it looked like Feagin might never figure things out, she had a revelation. After two seasons sitting on the bench and barely playing, Feagin got the first look as the starting four. That didn’t last past the exhibition, and when last season started Feagin was once again on the bench, the fourth option in the frontcourt who struggled if she had to do more than score and couldn’t be trusted at the five. But when Kamilla Cardoso left the team to play for Brazil, Feagin seized her opportunity. She suddenly became a solid defender who could play either forward spot, settle things down, and provide a scoring punch.

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Preseason assessment
That late-season surge has carried over to the offseason. Feagin led the USA U23 3X3 team to a gold medal in September and earned MVP honors in the process. Dawn Staley said that success gave Feagin a confidence boost that has carried over to the preseason.

“I think it’s happening at the right time with her having so much success with USA Basketball,” Staley said. “It could only help her. She’s practicing great. She looks like the senior that we need her to be. She’s playing that way again. She’s utilizing her voice in a way that says she doesn’t want to just win. She wants to make it to the next level.”

Burning question: Can Feagin make the senior leap?
We hear it so often it starts to lose meaning, but it’s true – senior experience matters. It has happened for the Gamecocks. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan made a jump as a senior. Tyasha Harris made a jump. Even A’ja Wilson and Kamilla Cardoso made big jumps from their junior to senior seasons. Feagin put up sneakily strong numbers last season that the lightbulb may have come on later than hoped, but it has come on and she could be ready for the leap.

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