South Carolina Basketball: Gamecock 5-star commit headed to state semifinals

South Carolina basketball fans can't wait for Joyce Edwards to get on campus. The 5-star recruit is considered the top defensive prospect in the 2024 cycle (she has a nice offensive game, too), and she has a great chance of finding early playing time on Dawn Staley's team next season as a freshman.

But before the talented forward joins the Gamecocks, though, she has to finish up her high school career.

Edwards and her Camden Bulldogs have cruised their way through the first three rounds of the South Carolina High School League basketball playoffs. They've won their three games (blowouts over the Swansea Tigers, Waccamaw Warriors, and Lower Richland Diamond Hornets) by a ridiculous combined score of 203-76. Edwards has 100 points total in the victories, easily outpacing all three teams she has played against on her quest for a championship.

In the state semifinals (known as the Lower State Finals in the Palmetto State), Edwards and the Bulldogs will face off with the Darlington High School Falcons on Tuesday with a spot in the state championship game on the line. The winner will play against the winner of the Daniel Lions and the Wren High School Hurricane.

If the Bulldogs win another state title, it will be their 2nd-straight championship. In Edwards' sophomore season, they lost the final game by 2 points to her future South Carolina basketball teammate MiLaysia Fulwiley and the Keenan Raiders.

Edwards has already been named to the All-State Team and was selected as the AAA South Carolina Basketball State Player of the Year. She is also a finalist for the Naismith National High School Girls Player of the Year Award.

Edwards is one of three 5-star recruits in the class of 2024 for Dawn Staley's Gamecocks. Point guard Maddy McDaniel and center Adhel Tac are also part of the class, and Tac has already enrolled in school while she rehabs an injury.