South Carolina Basketball: Gamecock starter wins award

Every year, the Dayton Agonis Club gives out a series of awards to athletes from the Dayton, Ohio area. This year, a South Carolina basketball starter was honored with one of the awards. The club hands out honors to the top high school athlete in the area, a coach, a player from the area who left, and the top performers at local Dayton University, Wright State, and Miami (OH) University.

This week,Bree Hall, the Gamecocks' primary starter at the small forward this season, was given the Dave Hall Memorial Award. The former Wayne High School standout (Huber Heights, Ohio, just outside of Dayton, Ohio) was chosen as the top athlete from the Dayton area who left the area to play college ball.

Hall averaged just under 10 points while knocking down 39% of her shots from behind the 3-point arc for the Gamecocks this season. Hall had a good year defensively, as well, and she chipped in about 3 rebounds per game and some secondary ballhandling duties at times.

But her story is a lot bigger than just her numbers.

By her own admission, Bree Hall had lost most of her confidence as a basketball player after playing sparingly the previous two seasons. However, as USC head coach Dawn Staley never gave up on Hall, Hall never fully gave up on herself, and she had a very important role on the undefeated national championship team this season.

Her newfound confidence allowed Hall to become one of the best clutch shot-makers in the country this season, helping preserve South Carolina basketball's unblemished record several times with big-time 3-point jumpers late in games.

With another year left in her college career, Hall has a chance to add to her story and, perhaps, win another Dave Hall Memorial Award while she's at it. Hall and the Gamecocks will open their season against the Michigan Wolverines in Las Vegas on November 4th.