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Ta’Niya Latson, the leading scorer in women’s college basketball last season at 25.2 points per game, has transferred to South Carolina, she announced on social media Tuesday. Latson will provide a major offensive boost for Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks, who lost to UConn in the national championship game earlier this month.
Latson, who spent the first three seasons of her collegiate career at Florida State, entered the transfer portal late last month after the Seminoles were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by LSU in the second round. While she said she was keeping an open mind about staying in Tallahassee, an exit always seemed like the most likely scenario given the NIL deal she could command and Florida State’s impending rebuild.
Almost immediately, South Carolina was mentioned as a landing spot. Raven Johnson, who played with Latson in high school, even said publicly that she would recruit her to Columbia.
“I’d tell her, let’s run it back,” Johnson said in March. “I’m definitely gonna try to get her to come here. I’m gonna be in her ear. I would be happy. We all would be happy to play with her.”
Sure enough, Latson has now signed with South Carolina and Johnson has also announced her intention to return to school instead of declaring for the 2025 WNBA Draft. Together they’ll have a chance to lift another trophy, just like they did at the high school level when they won two state championships in Georgia.
Latson’s arrival gives South Carolina a true No. 1 option on offense and solves the team’s biggest issue on that side of the ball.
While the Gamecocks’ depth of talent and elite defense was enough to go 35-4 and reach the national championship game, their lack of a go-to scorer was a major issue throughout their tournament run. It nearly cost them against Maryland and Duke, and was a big reason why they couldn’t keep up with UConn in the title game. Joyce Edwards led the team in scoring at just 12.7 points per game last season. Latson scored nearly double that by herself.
Latson’s scoring and ability to create her own shot stands out, and for good reason, but she’s not a one-dimensional player. She also averaged 4.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists for the Seminoles last season — both career-highs — while shooting 34.3% from 3-point range.
South Carolina was already going to be one of the main title contenders next season, but with Latson running the show they just might be the team to beat.
